India, Dec. 31 -- A powerful winter storm lashed large parts of upstate New York this week, bringing hurricane-force wind gusts that uprooted trees, downed power lines and, in one dramatic incident, knocked a woman off her feet.

Diane Miller, a resident of Hamburg, was caught on camera being blown into bushes when violent winds hit the area on Monday. The incident occurred when she opened the door at her daughter's home in Lackawanna during errand runs.

"It happened so quickly, I couldn't believe it was happening," Miller told WKBW. "Never in a million years did I think I would go flying in the air like a kite."

Describing the moment the gusts struck, she said, "I opened her door, and the wind caught me, and I went flying." Miller adde...