Four die in Massachusetts storms; Hampden County heavily damaged
Tornadoes roared through Massachusetts on Wednesday, as violent winds caused damage in about two dozen communities, ripping off roofs, uprooting trees, scattering debris and leaving at least four dead in Hampden County.
The storm pulverized or sheared off the tops of roofs on Main Street in Springfield. A mounted video camera captured dramatic footage of a debris-filled funnel as it swept into downtown from the west, then crossed the Connecticut River.
Gov. Deval Patrick said two people were killed in West Springfield, one in Springfield and another in Brimfield. He did not immediately know the circumstances of the deaths.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said more than 40 people were admitted to hospitals in the city after Wednesday’s tornado. State police said at least 5 people were seriously injured and required surgery.
Patrick said the path of damage from the first and more powerful of the two tornadoes extended from Westfield, just west of Springfield, and extended east to the community of Douglas. He said the second, slightly less powerful, tornado cut a path from West Springfield all the way to Sturbridge in the central part of the state.
Patrick declared a state of emergency and called up 1,000 National Guard troops to assist in the aftermath of the storms, which damaged at least 19 communities and brought scenes of devastation more familiar in the South and Midwest to a part of the country where such violent weather isn’t a way of life.
The governor said the death toll was preliminary and police and firefighters were going door to door in Springfield to assure that no one was trapped in damaged buildings.
Patrick said there was extensive damage in Hampden County, especially to homes and other structures. He said there were a number of live wires down and at least 48,000 homes were without electricity.
Utility crews around Massachusetts scrambled to restore power.
Western Massachusetts Electric Co. said crews from Connecticut Light and Power and Public Service of New Hampshire were being sent to help with restoration efforts. The utility was reporting nearly 17,000 customers without electricity as of 11 p.m. Wednesday.
National Grid said a helicopter would be used on Thursday to assess damage to power lines in hard-to-reach rural areas of the region. The utility had more than 40,000 customers without power in the aftermath of the tornadoes.
Officials said many of the outages were caused by trees bringing down power lines.
The state has opened shelters for those whose homes were damaged or who need a place to stay.
Patrick said he had preliminary reports of some looting in downtown Springfield. He said that looting tapered off as heavy rains set in and the state police were securing the area. No looting arrests were reported.
Members of the state’s congressional delegation said they would seek federal assistance for storm-damaged areas.
Patrick asked superintendents in the 19 affected communities to cancel school Thursday and also told non-essential state employees in counties impacted by the storms to stay home.
"We’re worried about our friends and neighbors, our fellow citizens in western Massachusetts who have been affected by this terrible tragedy," Patrick said.
Two of the hardest hit communities were Springfield - where there were multiple injuries reported - and Monson. Tornado watches remained in effect through Wednesday evening, and earlier had been issued for much of the East Coast, including Philadelphia, New York and Boston.
Hampshire County
In Hampshire County, the storm took down power lines and trees, resulting in power outages, but there were no reports of structural damage or injuries, according to state police.
In Belchertown, 1,834 residents were without power Wednesday evening, according to National Grid. A tree fell on power lines on Lower Federal Street about 8 p.m., Belchertown police said.
In Easthampton, the Western Massachusetts Electric Co. said 1,570 customers were without power. Downed power lines were reported on Loudville Road and South Street.
And 691 customers lost power in Granby, but authorities were uncertain about the cause.
Western Massachusetts Electric also reported 75 outages in Southampton and 56 in Sunderland.
In Northampton, Sharon Rust, an employee of State Street Wines, Deli and Fruit Store, said, "Some people are more frightened than others."
The storm moved through during a sunny, muggy afternoon in western Massachusetts. Around 3 p.m. the sky suddenly darkened, a quick prelude to the torrent of rain and hail that battered the region for nearly an hour.
"It was very odd - it was dark over there," Rust said motioning toward State Street, "and it was light over" on Center Street.
The storm disrupted plans across the region. At the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School in South Hadley, parents picking their children up from school around 4:15 p.m. were asked to wait for an hour before returning home.
Gabe Sullivan, 33, of Northampton, was leaving work in Amherst to catch the bus home when the storm hit. Hail forced people waiting for the bus to seek refuge at the post office, he said.
"It was a scary bus ride," Sullivan said. "We were driving through Hadley and you could see the lightning striking everywhere."
A tree near 31 Middle St. in Hadley was struck by lightning, according to the fire department there.
Bill LaTerz, 62, was so concerned by the hail that he decided to drive his new Nissan Maxima from his home in Easthampton to the downtown parking garage in Northampton.
"I'm just waiting until most of it's gone by, then I’ll head home," LaTerz said. "I haven’t seen golf ball-sized hail in decades, but it does happen occasionally."
Lightning hit a garage in South Hadley, according to the fire department there. And a house was reported struck by lightning in Chesterfield.
The National Weather Service said experts are preparing to go out to assess the severity of the system. The assessment will enable the weather service to figure out where tornadoes touched down Wednesday and their strength.
Meteorologist Glen Field said tornadoes started in Westfield and continued to neighboring West Springfield.
There were also reports of touchdowns in Monson, Sturbridge and East Douglas.
The weather service said it was not immediately clear if this was a continuous tornado.
The storm damaged homes and businesses, took down trees and power lines and rendered roads impassable.
An apparent tornado struck downtown Springfield on Wednesday afternoon, scattering debris, toppling trees and frightening workers and residents. Several injuries were reported.
Baystate Medical Center in Springfield was treating numerous injured people, some with serious force trauma injuries, spokeswoman Jane Albert said.
Television news footage showed buildings with their top floors pulverized or sheared off. Video aired by WWLP-TV showed a debris-filled funnel roaring into downtown from the west, crossing the Connecticut River and tossing water and debris.
WWLP reported heavy damage in the South End section of Springfield.
Thomas Walsh, a spokesman for Mayor Sarno, told The Associated Press there were no reports of any deaths and the city had requested help from the National Guard. Walsh said he was looking out his City Hall window around 4:30 p.m. when he saw the funnel.
"I could see this massive cloud of debris floating around in a circular, cylindrical fashion," he said.
After the winds passed, Walsh said, he could see about 10 large trees damaged in a square in downtown Springfield.
The storm hit as workers were beginning to leave for the evening commute home. A tractor-trailer overturned during the storm on the Memorial Bridge leading to West Springfield.
Walsh said city officials rushed to the basement when the danger became apparent.
The Roman Catholic diocese of Springfield said a retired priest was among those injured.
Mark Dupont, a spokesman for the diocese, said the storm damaged St. Michael’s Retired Priest Residence. He said one priest was injured and the remaining priests living at the facility were moved to a nearby rectory.
The extent of the priest’s injuries was not immediately known.
Damage at Cathedral High School in Springfield included some blown-out windows, Dupont said. All the students were safe, he said.
Residents of Springfield who were forced to leave their homes during the tornado described a harrowing experience.
"Everything started shaking. The whole building was shaking," said Shonda Lopez, who was at home when the tornado struck.
Her sister, Margaret Alexander, hid in a closet in her apartment during the storm. She and 15 family members, including a daughter, two granddaughters and the family dog, Sasha, in a crate later went to the MassMutual Center, a cavernous event center in downtown Springfield that was converted into an emergency shelter.
The downtown center was filled with children playing, infants screaming and barking dogs.
Upstairs at the MassMutual Center, seniors from Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham dressed in gowns and tuxedos arrived for their prom, which went on as scheduled despite the tornado.
Jola Wnuk said she almost didn’t attend because of the weather. But her mother persuaded her to go. "She said it’s once in a lifetime," Wnuk said.
Photographers hired for the prom said they had a frightening view of the tornado just outside the center’s ceiling-to-floor windows.
"It looked like birds were flying out of the trees and it was rubble," said Martha Vachon of Photography by Duval of Palmer.
Scene in Monson
A pastor in Monson said his town was walloped by an apparent tornado that took down his church’s steeple, while battering houses and uprooting massive trees.
The Rev. Bob Marrone of The First Church of Monson said roads were impassable after the storm struck late Wednesday afternoon.
The steeple fell, but Marrone said he’s more concerned about massive damage to homes in Monson.
Marrone said the storm cleared a view he’s never seen across the valley where the town sits.
"I can see the plywood of roofs, and see houses where most of the house is gone," he said. "The road that runs up in front of my house ... There’s so many trees down, it’s completely impassable."
Marrone said when the storm hit, he and his wife took shelter in the first floor of their house, until breaking windows led them to flee to the basement.
He said he emerged to find nine of 10 oaks along his driveway down, one crab apple tree tossed 150 feet and devastation "360 degrees around us."
Massachusetts state police got numerous reports of tornado sightings Wednesday, also including in Wilbraham. Police said there was heavy damage in spots.
Damaged homes in Wilbraham
An apparent tornado damaged homes across a large swath of Wilbraham.
Initial assessments indicated that the tornado affected about a third of the community in some way, said Wilbraham police Pvt. Wendy Denning.
She said homes on at least five streets were damaged by falling trees and branches.
School damaged in Westfield
Police in Westfield said an apparent tornado took down trees and power lines and damaged some homes as well as a public school.
Westfield police described the damage as "pretty messy."
Storm hits Sturbridge
In Sturbridge, at the junction of the Massachusetts Turnpike and Interstate 84, a half-mile section of Main Street was shut down after a tornado damaged homes and felled trees, according to town administrator Shaun Suhoski.
Suhoski said some people suffered "cuts, scrapes, bruises," though no serious injuries were immediately reported. The storm blew trees into houses and severely damaged telephone poles and rooftops, he said.
"It was a pretty heavy assault from the storm system and we’re trying to dig out and assess it right now," Suhoski said.
The Telegram & Gazette of Worcester reported that part of an auto body shop in Sturbridge was destroyed.
The American Red Cross Pioneer Valley Chapter Wednesday urged people to prepare for severe weather. The Red Cross suggests home disaster plans, emergency preparedness kits and being ready and safe in the event of high winds.
Massachusetts had not experienced a tornado since 2008, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. The state normally averages about two per year.
The last killer tornado in Massachusetts was on May 29, 1995, when three people died in Great Barrington in Berkshire County.
The state’s deadliest recorded tornado on June 9, 1953, killed 94 people in the Worcester area.
Tornado touches down in downtown Springfield: wwlp.com
Comments
Springfield College was hit
Springfield College was hit and the Springfield Student newspaper has pictures: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Springfield-Student-Newspaper/354511048687
tornado
thats what it will take to clean up springfield. maybe some of them can now get a job and help to clean up!