— — A burst of wind during an afternoon thunderstorm tore down tree limbs and utility poles and knocked out power to about 50 homes and businesses Wednesday in the city of Tonawanda.

The storm also dumped about an inch of rain in the area, sending people scurrying for cover after enjoying a warm afternoon.

It was a brief but intense storm that crossed the Niagara River from Grand Island.

“About 4:31 p.m. we started getting calls about trees down, power poles sparking in the Adam and Kohler street area,” City of Tonawanda fire Chief Charles Stuart said. He said Assistant Chief Mike Young, who lives nearby, was one of them. “Almost simultaneously he called in on the radio and said he had some pretty major damage. The way he described it, things got really dark and black with wind and rain. Large limbs came down and took out some lines.”

The most extensive damage was a large tree limb outside 277 Adam St. that was sheared off by the burst. The limb cut a nearby utility pole in half and the additional tension from its wires caused a second utility pole at the intersection of Adam and Kohler to snap about two-thirds up the pole.

“I came home from work and five minutes later I heard this great big crash,” said Nancy Ulrich, who lives at 277 Adam. “I looked out the window and I saw the whole tree right across the driveway.”

Ulrich said she had been wary of the tree’s health for a while — she’s called the city several times about it — and added she didn’t know if the tree was struck by lightning or if the wind took down the limb.

Stuart said a tree at 56 Eugene Street was struck by lightning at around 5:30 p.m. and was the only tree hit by a lightning strike.

Across the street from Ulrich, Barbara Fitzgerald had noted the rain had picked up in intensity.

“It was coming down sideways, the rain was tremendous,” said Fitzgerald. She happened to look out the window just as the gale of wind passed through. “I heard a crash, there was no flash or sparks. The tree limb came down really quick.”

One block away, Vinny Caito looked out the window at Mississippi Mudd’s. The manager said about 20 people who were dining outside came in when the rain began. He also had a good look at the river as the wind picked up.

“It was a wall of rain,” Caito said. “A giant cloud of rain coming at us. One moment you couldn’t see across the river, and then I couldn’t even see the street from 10 feet away.”

At Niawanda Park, garbage totes were strewn about and small branches littered the parking lots following the roughly 45-minute squall.

After the storm passed through, National Grid crews arrived to replace the utility poles. They also had to cut off power in the neighborhood. At 11 p.m. the utility’s website reported there were 46 customers affected, and power was estimated to be restored by 1:30 a.m.

“They told us at about 4:30 it was going to take about six hours,” said Gerry Long, a resident who was without power.

Adam Street between Bouck and Kohler was closed while line crews worked to restore power .

No injuries were reported in the storm, but the sudden burst caught many people off-guard. It was also a narrow band of rain, according to the National Weather Service.

David Thomas, a meteorologist at the Buffalo office of the NWS, said several storms crossed the Tonawanda region and parts of Niagara and northern Erie counties.

“Most were the garden variety storm, with one stronger storm over the city of Tonawanda,” Thomas said.

Wednesday’s storm wasn’t a tornado, as some residents speculated, nor was it even a microburst, Thomas added.

“Radar showed none of the signatures that would lead us to believe it was a microburst,” Thomas said. “As the thunderstorm grows, it conventionally starts to collapse upon itself and you get a bit of a downdraft. That’s what went through.”

According to Thomas, the storm was the product of a lake breeze convergence zone. This happens when winds coming off Lake Ontario from the north meet winds coming from the southwest off Lake Erie.

“They butt heads, so to speak,” Thomas said. “Air will do one of two things, go down to the ground or rise up, and usually showers or thunderstorms will blossom off this.”

That’s what happened Wednesday.

Thomas said 1.03 inches of rain was recorded at the NWS office in Cheektowaga, but only a trace of rain was recorded at the Niagara Falls airport. He said weather spotter Jack Kanack in North Tonawanda reported 0.84 inches of rain fell in one hour.

Just how localized was the wind storm? North Tonawanda fire officials reported not a single call related to the weather.

Reporter Neale Gulley contributed to this report.