Residents along the Lake Erie shoreline are used to the wind and waves, but this devastation, destruction is new.

What You Need To Know

  • Sunday's wind pushed six to eight feet of water, a seiche, to Lake Erie's shoreline 

  • Hoover Beach is no stranger to damage, but this time residents say it is worse 

  • They've been working with local, state and federal representatives to preserve the shoreline 

  • It's estimated three to four homes are too damaged to repair

"Last time there were trees and everything, this time it's local debris," Hank Kleinfelder, a Hoover Beach resident, and member of the Shoreline Preservation Committee said. "It's our decks, our structures. This has been far more damaging than we expected. 

Sunday evening, there was a six to eight foot seiche. It was water pushed from Toledeo to Buffalo. That coupled with five to ten foot waves created a path of destruction. 

"We have at least one or two homes that have severe structural damage, that are probably beyond repair," Kleinfelder said. 

Like his next door neighbor's home. Thankfully she and her four dogs took the advice of Hamburg officials and evacuated last night. For Kleinfelder, they stayed for almost all of it. 

"We have a hurriance door, and the water was coming up almost halfway up the door from the wave splash," he said. "It burst and the water came rushing through the house and at that point we knew we needed to go." 

Across the street Doug, takes us into his parent's basement, where a few feet of water remains. 

"It happened pretty fast, it comes through this  back door, my sister actually saw it on camera," Doug pointed.

That's when Doug rushed to his parent's home. 

"I had my son with me, I was a little nervous," Doug said. "I was like get a hold of grandma!" 

A basement again flooded, but Doug says again, they are all OK. 

"It was crazy watching people try to drive through here," Doug said. "It was insane, I have never seen anything like it." 

As cleanup gets underway, the next question is what's next? This will not  be the last time Hoover beach is submerged. 

"Supervisor Shaw and the Town Board, we've had Congressional representatives out here, all cooperative," Kleinfelder said. "The Town has signed a letter of intent to help us get any sort of funding, there's a FEMA premeditation damage grant that's available, but with Covid, it's all been pushed back." 

So, for now, they wait and hope Mother Nature spares them next time around.