Heavy rain, sleet and winds slammed into the Mohawk Valley early Tuesday morning as severe thunderstorms rolled through the area. The weather left residents in some spots with major repair projects on their hands. Our Sarah Blazonis stopped by one Whitesboro neighborhood as cleanup began.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

WHITESBORO, N.Y. -- "It sounded like three trains coming through the house," said B.J. Howe as he surveyed the wreckage of his house Tuesday morning.

What actually came crashing through B.J. Howe's home early Tuesday was this: The tree that stood in his front yard.

"You could see the wall come in and out and then you hear one crash, two crashes, three crashes. It was pretty intense," said Howe.

Howe was one of several homeowners along Glendale Place and Main Street surveying storm damage later that morning.

John Cieplenski saw trees uprooted from his property and his neighbor's pool and car were crushed by falling limbs.

"When the sky lit up and all that noise and the transformers came down and the telephone poles and that made all the racket and stuff, that's when we knew we were seriously damaged," said Cieplenski.

YNN Meteorologist Michael Gouldrick says it was likely 60 to 70 mph straight line winds that passed through the area, uprooting trees, downing power lines and damaging property.

And there was no calm after the storm for residents.

"The village has been here since last night when this happened. We've been removing debris so National Grid can get their vehicles in," said Bob Friedlander, Commissioner of Public Works and a village trustee.

As the cleanup began, residents took pictures of the damage and took stock of what they've lost. They say they're just happy no one was hurt, and all that's left to do now is pick up the pieces.

"Everybody's taking care of everybody, helping out, lending a helping hand," said Cieplenski. "The guys in the crew, NIMO, everybody, the village, they're all doing a great job cleaning up the mess we got here."

Village officials expected this mess made in minutes by Mother Nature to take much longer to clean up.