TORNADO RAVAGES VALLEYJune 6, 2011
Note: The singular event of June 1 caused widespread destruction and seriously affected communities untouched physically by the tornado. The staff of Reminder Publications went to the areas affected by the tornado to file the following stories and photos.
By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
SPRINGFIELD — It was supposed to be a typical Wednesday evening — no big deal.
I arrived home around 4:15 p.m. to prepare supper for my in-laws. We bring it to them most Wednesdays and my wife visits them while I cover the Chicopee School Committee.
While I put some meatballs in the microwave I looked out through our back porch. It was raining a bit and I wondered which, if any, of our cats were outside. I had heard there was a threat of a tornado, which I immediately discounted. The storm was intensifying and I thought, "I've never seen a thunderstorm like this."
That's because it wasn't just a thunderstorm.
The winds quickly picked up to a level I'd only seen on televised news reports. The color of the sky was a shade of green. When a huge tree came crashing down from my neighbor's yard, I knew this was no ordinary thunderstorm.
I watched the winds selectively snatch the cable for the television, phone and Internet from the side of the house and pull it.
I walked from the kitchen to the dining room with the porch door flapping crazily in the background. The noise of the wind was deafening. Having most of my windows open meant they were saved from being blown out by the difference in pressure, but it also meant the winds came into my house to do damage.
The winds popped out the window screens. It pushed a glass jar off the mantle, which broke on the floor. Debris from leaves to pieces of insulation in the wind was deposited almost everywhere.
The cliché of the tornado seeming to take forever to pass while in reality only lasting several minutes was true in this case. When it was over, I was in a daze.
I looked out my front door. The tree that shaded our living room had been uprooted and it laid length-wise down the top of my relatively new car. A large piece of roof decking from someone's house was mixed in with the tree. Another tree near the driveway was snapped into two pieces, which hung together.
The debris around my car blocked Spruce Street and two other downed trees covered the intersection with Hawthorne Street.
The trees in our backyard, which provided shade for the house, were all destroyed. A spruce tree was snapped close to its base. Two maple trees were shredded. There were broken limbs, roofing material and glass everywhere.
My back porch was structurally intact but most of the windows were destroyed and part of the siding near the roof was gone. A quick look around the house showed that storm windows had been broken but the regular windows seemed OK.
I was startled to realize that our power was still on. The underground cables that bring us electricity in this neighborhood are notorious for having problems, either on the hottest night of summer or the coldest day of winter.
This time, though, the technology came through for us.
I called my wife and told her what had happened. She had watched the funnel cloud travel through the area from her office on State Street. She told her co-workers she knew it was in her neighborhood.
I went back to the front door and looked out. People are starting to come out of their homes. One woman was screaming the name of a child, whom she eventually found unharmed. Neighbors started going from home to home asking each other if they were OK.
A group of people started removing the tree limbs from my car with the intent to clear the street. Rain forced us to stop. When the rains stopped, more people with axes and chainsaws came back. I was able to move my car up onto the sidewalk and Spruce Street was now somewhat clear.
My wife and I have lived in this neighborhood since 1990 and have never seen people coming together in the fashion as they did that night.
A young woman walked down the street trembling and clearly distressed. She can't get past the debris and we told her to walk up on our yard, but be careful of the boards with nails. My wife, who had arrived home, talks with her. She lives in Sixteen Acres, but she has family here and she needs to check on them.
As the afternoon pushed on, we were visited by two police officers who were checking every home. They told us there was considerable destruction in the South End.
As dusk fell, the sky was still an odd color. One young woman declared breathlessly at one point she has heard another tornado is coming. I dreaded the thought of going through this a second time, fearing we wouldn't be as lucky as we were a few hours before.
Fortunately, another tornado didn't come; only rain fell.
I took a short walk down to Central Street and saw in the dusk homes with no roofs and another one, recently renovated, that was practically destroyed.
We sat on our front porch, watching lightening strikes in the distance and listening to a steady soundtrack of sirens and passing helicopters. People waked down the street asking us if we were OK.
Later than night, I watched the news conference on our television that still has an antenna. I turned it off near midnight but had a difficult time sleeping. A team of firefighters awoke me between 3 and 4 a.m. to make sure we were all right.
The next morning, I drove my wife to work. What should be a five-minute trip was lengthened due to the traffic. Central Street was closed and Florence Street became the detour. Our tiny Spruce Street — barely wide enough at times for two cars — was suddenly elevated as a main drag.
Being a journalist, I couldn't stay at home. I got my notebooks and camera and set out walking. What I saw are things I've never seen in person before.
House after house had suffered damage from stripped off roofs to complete destruction. On Hancock Street I walked past the Elias Brookings Museum Magnet School. There were some children gathered there and a guy wearing a hardhat told them there would be no more school here.
Looking at the damages, I thought, he may be more correct than he really knows.
School personnel were going in and out of the building. Its windows were all blown out and there was one second-floor classroom that is completely open to the elements.
Across the street, one house had most of its front walk sheared off, giving it the exposed view of a dollhouse. Next door, another brick building was without its roof.
I met, by accident, Ward Three City Councilor Melvin Edwards, who lives in the neighborhood. Like me, his home suffered minimal damage, but we shared a worry for this area as a whole.
There had finally been some forward development in this working class, working poor neighborhood. In the Central Street corridor, the long abandoned Spruce Manor Nursing Home — a major problem — had been demolished and there are now new single-family homes being built.
As we walked up Central Street, the destruction was breathtaking. I now realize how incredibly lucky we were. Only a fluke in topography or barometric pressure kept the tornado from ripping apart our home as it did so many others.
I took photos and shot some video. Edwards and I went to Beech Street where nearly every home had been damaged including one that was lifted off its foundation.
The police had blocked Central Street as workers tried to deal with a brick apartment building that was crumbling apart.
CNN had a crew on Beech Street. The videographer told me no matter how many times he has seen scenes such as this one he can't get used to it.
I also met a reporter from WCBS radio in New York City. He left the city at 5:30 a.m. that morning to report on the tornado, which has been his fourth one in the Northeast.
As the morning progressed there were a growing number of people driving and walking through the area holding video cameras and taking still photos. As I sat on my front steps I watched this conga line of gawkers as they drove slowly, many with one hand on the wheel and another aiming a video camera.
I felt like sharing a gesture with them.
I realized this was a historical event and people want to see it, but this shouldn't be some sort of perverse tourist attraction.
Crews of workers came through the area in the afternoon sawing down fallen trees to make sure streets and fire hydrants are clear. A pick-up truck rolled through with a woman standing on the back bumper asking everyone if they needed water. Children sat in the truck bed handing out bottles.
At suppertime, my wife and I took a walk. What appeared to be insurance adjusters were walking throughout the neighborhood with clipboards and cameras.
As we headed home we saw two men trying to loosen a piece of metal siding from its perch in branches. They were successful and laughed, although looked a little sheepish when they saw us. They loaded the metal into their pickup, which was already nearly full.
Vultures, I thought. It didn't take them long at all. Although the process of getting a new car and the overwhelming chore of cleaning up tons of tree debris numbs us, my wife and I know we were very lucky. Many people were not. And this neighborhood may take several years to fully recover.
SOUTH END ROCKED BY TORNADO
By Katelyn Gendron
Assistant Managing Editor
SPRINGFIELD — The devastation is immense and nonsensical. On one side of Wilcox Street in the South End, Steven Shroeck's residence has been condemned, on the other, the home of Melissa Holman and Susan LaBrecque has only minor damage and full utilities.
"All of a sudden the sky turned backwards and 30 seconds later it [the tornado] was in the backyard ... I saw the walls pulsating and I thought we were going out the window. I was never so scared in my life," Shroeck recalled.
"We had to evacuate last night [June 1]. We were able to drive away: the only car on the street that wasn't damaged," he said. "I was just glad everyone was safe. I told my wife, 'It's only things.'"
Shroeck was able to seek shelter at his boss's residence for now.
"You don't know where to begin or where to pick up," he said as he looked at his apartment building.
"We watch this stuff on TV," LaBrecque said, never believing she'd experience something like this in Western Massachusetts.
"I looked out the window and heard this tremendous wind. I just froze and then I saw lawn chairs flying through the air," she recalled of her experience.
"I don't want to see this again," Holman added as she looked down her debris-filled street.
Holman said she hoped the city would clean up her street as soon as possible so that she can begin to move on.
Others along Main Street weren't as lucky. City and state police as well as members of the National Guard blocked off this main thoroughfare, and adjacent streets due to extensive structural damage.
Employees at Red Rose on Main Street could be seen cleaning up debris and sweeping the business's rear parking lot of broken glass.
A young woman stood starring at the South End Community Center on Howard Street with tears streaming down her face. The street was covered with debris from trees to broken glass to bricks that were once part of the Howard Street School. A vehicle parked outside the school had been demolished by bricks falling from the building.
Those on Margaret Street were evacuated due to a collapsing building.
Berkshire Bank, in addition to many properties along East Columbus Avenue also incurred significant damage, including blown out windows and missing siding. West Columbus was the site of the central command for emergency services. Fire trucks from all over New England lined the street, while vehicles from the city's Department of Public Works tied cinder blocks to trees in order to keep them upright.
TWISTER TOUCHES DOWN IN SIXTEEN ACRES
By Chris Maza
Assistant Editor
In Sixteen Acres, a massive cleanup effort had begun before 7 a.m. Parker and Cooley streets, as well as Plumtree and Bradley roads were cut off from through-traffic as the area was stricken with felled trees that knocked down power lines and damaged properties.
Residents with homes along Parker and Cooley Streets and adjoining side streets walked the corridor as tree crews hustled to clear as much of the carnage left in the tornado's wake.
A man, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he was making his way back to his car in the center of Sixteen Acres. He had been forced to leave it behind the night before and walk home to ensure the safety of his family and his home.
"I really hope they can get this cleaned up quickly," he said. "There are a lot of people trapped in their homes and trapped out of their homes."
Still others just milled around, talking to neighbors and surveying damage. At one point an older gentleman could be heard telling two children with him, "Remember this. We may never see anything like it again."
Dennis James of Cheyenne Road, off of Bradley Road, will not soon forget. In fact, he documented the natural phenomenon on his video camera and was spending the morning shooting footage of the aftermath.
"I was sitting on the porch and hail started coming down. Then someone yelled, 'There's a tornado,'" he said. "I couldn't see it at first, but then I looked to my left and I could see the debris flying in a circle through the air. So I ran inside and got some footage on my camcorder before I ran inside the house.
"I've lived in Sixteen Acres since 1972 and I've never seen anything of this magnitude," he continued.
As professional crews worked to restore power and clear trees, neighbors did what they could to assist in the cleanup efforts by raking leaves, gathering smaller branches and cutting trees with chainsaws.
"I really think people are starting to come together and starting to make things happen," James said.
The effort will take some time. Longstanding trees were ripped out of the ground by the roots, picket fences were blown apart like a dropped box of matches, roofs were destroyed.
Meanwhile, just minutes away, Sixteen Acres Garden Center was completely untouched, receiving deliveries and operating as if nothing had happened at all. Hours earlier, employees had gotten a firsthand look at the tornado as it tore a path just to the south of the business.
Peter Funari, sales manager, said the tornado was in plain view for "a good 45 seconds" as it made its way east on the horizon.
Even heavier damage was sustained to the southeast where Cathedral High School and St. Michael's Academy and the surrounding streets, including Surry Road and Roosevelt Avenue and South Branch Parkway, were badly battered by the tornado.
Cathedral sustained significant damage to its structure, including a collapsed wall at the rear of the gymnasium, which was reopened in December 2007 after a massive, multi-million dollar renovation after a fire damaged the building a year earlier.
A metal outer covering to the science wing wall was peeled back, exposing the cinder block wall underneath, while other sections of wall were gone completely, allowing a view into the classrooms. Sections of the roof appeared to be damaged, though Reminder Publications could not receive confirmation of that.
A line of trees that normally kept houses on Wendover Road hidden from view from the school's back parking lot were completely destroyed, as were trees that lined Island Pond. An onlooker sadly pointed out that the tree her family would have picnics under after football games was completely uprooted and sat in the middle of the rear parking lot.
However, in the front of the school, students marveled that a small tree that was planted in honor of slain student Conor Reynolds remained standing.
Several cars in the parking lot sustained significant damage. A minivan, said to be owned by Spanish teacher Lynn Callahan was pushed into Island Pond, but not before one of the wheels and struts was torn from the car and left in the middle of the road. A school vehicle, affectionately referred to by students as "the Jesus van," was turned on its side and several other vehicles sustained body damage.
Inside the school, glass from blown out windows littered the floor as the drop ceiling sagged and wires normally concealed hung low.
For Jillian Beery, a junior from Springfield, it was her first time seeing the destruction and admitted it opened her eyes a bit to the reality of the situation.
"It's really unbelievable. My Spanish teacher got a new car about a month ago and now it's in the lake. [The tornado] really did some damage," she said. "I'm sure a lot of people are going to be happy about not having any school, but once they see this, I think it will definitely hit them harder."
While some onlookers speculated about the school's future for this year and beyond, Beery maintained an upbeat outlook.
"I think this is going to bring us [the student body] together," she said. "You just want think that there's hope for everybody to get this back to how it was."
In Wilbraham, the area consisting of Stony Hill Road, Tinkham Road and Main Street sustained what one police officer who was directing traffic called "some of the worst damage I've ever seen."
A house at 932 Stony Hill Road sustained heavy damage, which included the loss of the entire south wall of the garage. At the end of the driveway a man was asking anyone passing by in the slow-moving traffic approaching the intersection of Tinkham and Stony Hill roads what places had power so he could get more gas for his generator.
Next door, a man recounted how lucky his aunt who lived there was as she moved away from her favorite window to sit by just minutes before it blew out.
It was also a time when frustrations began to mount as one victim standing in front of a fallen tree expressed his displeasure with those taking pictures as they drove slowly by, saying he was going to lay underneath it to "give these rubberneckers something to really look at and take a picture of."
On Main Street, traffic heading northbound was cut off at Rice's Fruit Farm as crews cleared away more than a mile of road that was strewn with trees, utility poles and power lines. Several crews worked to remove trees that were leaning on houses, while another was attempting to remove a utility pole that had fallen on a parked car.
The roofs of two homes on Tinkham Road near its intersection with Main Street were decimated after large trees crashed through their roofs and several trees fell in Adams Cemetery on and around gravesites.
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