Madison County July 8 2014 Storm Deaths

A fireman walks through a debris field off Goff Road in Smithfield, Madison County, following a severe storm on Tuesday, July 8, 2014. Officials in Central New York say four people are dead, including a mother and her 4-month-old baby, and four homes have been destroyed in building collapses amid severe thunderstorms.

(John Haeger | Oneida Daily Dispatch)

Peterboro, N.Y. -- A mother and her 4-month-old baby were among four people killed in Madison County Tuesday night by a powerful storm, said Smithfield town Supervisor Rick Bargabos.

Bargabos said the other two people killed were a relative of the mother and an unrelated neighbor. The victims lived in three separate houses, he said.

"The houses are obliterated," Bargabos said. "There is not a piece of framework together."

The homes were on Goff and Northrop roads. One of the houses on Northrop was "picked up and moved probably 500 feet across the road into another house," Bargabos said. "They found some stuff as far away as Route 46."

Bargabos said he's never seen anything like it.

"Nobody in the county has ever had anything like this," he said.

Chet Reeves, chief of the Smithfield Fire Department, inspected a house on Northrup Road that had been completely blown off its foundation. The house ended up in pieces on top a house across the road at least 500 feet away. He said one person died in the home that was blown away.

Tools, silverware and other household items were strewn through the yard and across the street. A couple of miles away, deputies combed the shoulders of roads looking for items.

Reeves also said personal items from the homes in Smithfield had been found as far away as Oneida, which is more than five miles and over a large ridge from the storm site.

Tim Smith, who lives several miles away in Peterboro, said his niece and her daughter were killed in a home on Goff Road that was completely leveled.

"This stuff ain't supposed to happen here," he said.

The Madison County Sheriff's Department has not released names of the victims yet. Sheriff Alan Riley plans to release more information later this morning.

The National Weather Service is sending a team to the area today to assess the damage and determine if it was caused by a tornado.

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