CONQUEST — Busy hammers replaced howling wind Monday at Clover
Meadows farm on Route 38 in Conquest, where Glenn Horst was among
the northern Cayuga County residents dealing with destroyed
property and downed trees after Sunday’s storm.

Horst, a Mennonite, came home from church Sunday afternoon to find
the roofs blown off his house and corn barn.

A long equipment storage building had about half its tin roof
missing as well, and trees were strewn everywhere. A row of
sunflowers in the front yard was flattened to the ground.

“I just thought, ‘Stay calm, don’t get excited. It won’t make any
difference,’” he said Monday. “A guy pulled in about five minutes
after I did. He got on the phone and told the others. Our church
works together a lot.”

That spirit was on display in a major way Monday. Scores of
Mennonites and neighbors swarmed to Horst’s farm to help put the
property back together.

The men fixed beams into place where the roof had been, pounding
away with hammers and bounding up and down the incline like billy
goats.

Others drove tractors, dump trucks and backhoes full of branches
and debris and replaced them with brand new materials.

Where the materials came from, Horst didn’t know.

“I can’t imagine how it would be without the help,” he said.

The women were inside the house, cooking and moving trunks, tables,
chairs, clothing, yarn, pots, pans and ice skates into the dry
garage.

Children helped where they could, raking the yard, carrying
supplies and bouncing on a trampoline, its protective walls blown
down.

“If everybody pitches in, it makes a small mound,” said Gerald
Martin of Aurelius.

Like most of the other volunteers, he had his own farm work waiting
at home.

“It’ll wait on me, won’t it?” he said.

Horst’s farm was one of two properties that lost a roof — another
was Diane and Dave Matthews’ house on Duck Lake Road. But plenty of
other people in town had trees down or belongings blown away.

The storm came through in the mid-afternoon after passing through
Wayne County. Trees were uprooted and about 3,500 households in the
area lost power, according to a Rochester Gas and Electric
spokesman.

Several people were evacuated from trailer homes on Aldrich Road
because of a propane leak. They spent several hours sheltered at
the Conquest Fire Department.

The Cayuga County Red Cross had volunteers on site and Devaney’s
Riverside Grill in Weedsport donated food for about 50 people in
distress, Red Cross CEO Renee Smith said.

The National Weather Service was in the area Monday assessing the
damage. As of Monday evening, it had not determined whether the
storm qualified as a tornado.

There were no injuries reported. Much of the damage occurred when
people were away from their homes, Conquest Fire Department
Assistant Chief Gerald Youngs said.

“We had a lot of resources that came together, and that helped,”
Youngs said. “Thunderstorms can develop into big things. It’s not
the first time.”

At Clover Meadows, the volunteers hoped to have the roof on the
house completed by nightfall. Volunteers were reluctant to talk,
but said they’d likely head to another damaged property
Tuesday.

“If the guy had to do everything himself it would never get done,”
said Martin Leon of Montezuma. “We try to help.”

Staff writer Justin Murphy can be reached at 282-2237 or
justin.murphy@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter at CitizenMurphy.