The National Weather Service confirmed Monday night’s storm in Lewis County was an EF-3 classified tornado.

Surveyors estimated a maximum wind speeds of 140 mph, a track length of approximately 16 miles and a maximum width of 700 yards.

Initial damage occurred in the town of Lewis to the west of West Leyden along Mud Lake Road that included uprooted and snapped hardwood trees, significant damage to two homes that included roof uplift and near total removal, a wall blowout of a garage, and the complete destruction and shift from the foundation of a barn, the NWS reported.

As damage is still being assessed, people like Nicole Sadowski are devastated.

“I’m just hoping that everybody stayed safe because it came through like a whirlwind," she said.

Sadowski is a resident and owner of a motel in the North Country. She found out her property had been damaged at an unexpected time.

“We were in Long Island at our other residence and my mechanic was at my house feeding my dogs and he called franticly and told us we needed to get in the car and drive up now that there was damage," said Sadowski.

In a couple of minutes, her entire life changed.

“Everything we worked so hard for the past five years is destroyed," she said. "You just keep looking and ceilings, my cycle studio is destroyed. My motel. Peoples' homes, we have two tenants that had to evacuate."

The greatest damage was found from Snow Ridge Ski Resort to the West Wind Motel in Turin. Several structures saw completed roof failures, interior wall failures, window failures, and a one multi-story building was shifted from its foundation with its entire roof removed.

“First of all, you look for a distinct [and] coherent path to the damage," said Mike Fries, a meteorologist for the Buffalo National Weather Service. "You look for things that make it seem like the wind was not just in one direction."

But with the damage done, Sadowski is trying to keep her outlook positive.

“Yes it's a lot of things and it's everything that we worked so hard for for the last five years but its just things and everybody is safe," she said.

The National Weather Service also confirmed two other tornadoes Monday evening in the Southern Tier.