Hope it stays away from the nuclear plant
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
Posted on 06/01/2011 2:54:53 PM PDT by balls
NECN is doing a stellar job of tracking two or three "historic" tornado storms.
Hope it stays away from the nuclear plant
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
Actually, there was a nuke plant about 40 miles NW of there.
THAT defines the word ‘awesome.’
MassMutal Ctr. In Spfd seems to be a triage area
If you track the storm on the radar it looks like it’s heading straight for the nuke plant down toward Manomet.
Some concern around Chicopee now with tornado warning .. Ludlow and Granby are in line in the next 15 mins.
ABC 40 confirmed MassMutual Ctr is open
The Adirondacks have a strong wind advisory (up to 50 mph). I hope my son got some good survival training last week because he's going solo right now. :-)
I’ve spent most of my life in Tornado Alley and Dixie Alley; just happen to be in New England on business today, and some of the coverage is amateurish, at least by the standards of Oklahoma City or Birmingham. On WHDH-TV (the NBC affiliate), the anchor just told a reporter to be careful, believing he was near a tornado. Then, she was corrected, and told the twister was outside another community, well away from the Channel 7 crew.
And one of the station’s “mets” just said these supercells “blew up out of nowhere.” Huh? There’s been a tornado watch out for several hours, so this is hardly a surprise.
To be fair, the Boston stations don’t get much practice at this type of coverage—and it shows. Maybe they can work an exchange program with a station in OKC or Birmingham.
Some of the local stations are doing a better job. NECN (the regional cable outfit) is providing solid coverage, as is the ABC station, WCVB. Can’t get WBZ on cable here in Maine, so I can’t offer any opinion on their effort.
Still, there isn’t a Gary England, James Spann or Greg Fishel in the bunch.
Matt Noyes, the NECN guy is the best I’ve heard anywhere in the country. He’s giving very detailed, technical, information and clear instructions.
One guy on NECN is obsessed with Springfield and duplicate reports.
4:35 p.m.Springfield Republican reporter saw and head a funnel cloud pulling up trash and other debris on Liberty Street. It was coming over Interstate 91 and headed over the river. It spun around by the bus station and headed down Main Street to downtown.
4:45 p.m. Springfield Police report heavy depris at Oakland and Allen Streets.
4:50 p.m.Police are encouraging people to stay home. Traffic is very heavy.
4:51 p.m. Police believe the tornado touched down in the downtown section. With most of the from State Street to Mill Street power lines are on the vehicle.
4:52 p.m. Tornado is heading to East Longmeadow.
4:53: p.m. There are reports of a house damaged. No information about where the location is.
4:53 p.m. Police are reporting multiple buildings are damaged on Maple Street.
4:54 p.m. Power lines are down around the area of Maple and Bridge Streets.
4:55 p.m. Tree fell through a house at 81 Federal Street extension. Police are also reporting trees are down all around Parker Street.
4:59: p.m. Police are looking for a 15-year-old girl in pink shorts. There is no information on whether she has been injured.
5 p.m. Woman is trapped in a house at 124 Arcaida Boulevard, Springfield police said.
5:01 p.m. There is an overturned car at Milton Bradley School in Springfield with people inside.
506 p.m. At least four trees are in front of City hall in Springfield. They are blocking traffic at State in front of the Civic Center.
5:10 p.m. Police are setting up an evacuation center at the MassMutual Center.
5:11 p.m. Police are forming groups of six and will start walking through neighborhoods the see if anyone has hurt.
5:11 p.m. Wilbraham police are reporting multiple structures damaged. They are requesting mutual assistance from Bondsville.
5:12 p.m. Police are reporting that McDuffie School on Maple Street has been evacuated.
5:12 p.m. Multiple buildings are down in the Merrick section of West Springfield, according to fire officials.
5:13 p.m. Police are reporting a strong odor of gas on Dale Street in the South End of the city.
5:13 p.m. Police are reporting an overturned tractor trailer truck on Riverside Road. The driver appears to be out of the vehicle but police are reporting he is injured.
5:14 p.m. Wilbraham is reporting a building struck in the south side of damage. Wind damage only is reported in Hampden.
5:14 p.m. Car crushed by a tree on the corner of Island Pond and Allen Street in Springfield.
5:15 p.m. Police are calling for all “all hands on deck” in Springfield.
5:16 p.m. A resident is reporting there damage to Cathedral High School, on Surrey Road and because of the damage people can see inside some of the classrooms.
5:20 p.m. Four poles are down on upper Tinkham Road. Police said the neighborhood is “just demolished.”
5:21 p.m. In Wilbraham there are reports of trees down on Stony Hill Road and Main Street.
5:23 p.m. Cambria and Chesterfield in East Forest Park some of the houses are totally demolished.
5:25 p.m. There is a report of a tornado touchdown in Monson.
5:26 p.m. A gas leak is reported at the Mount Carmel Social Club on Winthrop and Main Streets. The gas is pouring out, according to police.
5:27 p.m. Brenda J. Gooch said she and coworkers saw the tornado forming over West Springfield from her perch on the 13th floor of First Financial Plaza overlooking Court Square where she works for Boston Medical.
“We were just transfixed by it. It was just huge; very dark. You could see debris and boards and everything flying through it,”
They saw it approaching. “It was just horrible,” Gooch said. “It was like a freight train coming right at us. It was coming so fast.”
5:33 p.m. Most of the streets in North Agawam are blocked to some degree and there are a number of trees on wires.
5:34: Wilbraham officials are reporting trees down on South Maple, Echo Hill Road and Brookside Circle. The streets are not drivable.
5:37 p.m. A disaster task force is staging a relief center at West Springfield Fire Department.
5:39 p.m. Western Massachusetts is reponding to 367 Central Street. There are a lot of wires down in the street.
5:41 p.m. Springfield police are reporting Belmont and Dickinson Streets are relatively clear.
5:42 p.m.Reporter Patrick Johnson is at the corner of Central and Maple streets and said three of four access points are completely blocked. Two enormous downed trees are lying across Central Street.
One of the buildings from McDuffie School at the corner of Maple and Central streets has been damaged. The roof is heavily damaged, an iron fence in front of it is completly twisted. A tree has fallen in front of the building.
Police are also doing a house-to-house search to make sure no one has been injured.
5:50 p.m. Springfield Police have checked house from Plumtree to the Veterans Golf Course and have found no injuries.
5:30 p.m. In Brimfield, trees were downed along Route 20 and the Fire Department is weighing whether to close the roadway to traffic. Trees and other debris also blocked Hollow Road, and police closed Route 19 to traffic.
One man traveling along Route 20 said the wind had picked his sport-utility vehicle off the ground and moved it across the road.
5:53 p.m. National Weather Service is announcing the possibility of another tornado in the next 10 minutes in the Springfield area. People are being warned to take shelter in the MassMutual Center, the downtown parking garage or any other place that looks safe.
5:56 p.m. A spokesman from the Springfield Catholic Diocese said Cathedral High School was hit by the storm and sustained damage. Students were safe inside the building when the storm hit and blew out a number of windows. A planned event at the school is canceled.
5:59 p.m. Deputy Springfield Police Chief Robert Macfarlane said, “No one is going south of State Street or north of Central because of multiple building collapses and gas leaks.”
Police were ushering people out of the area. Dozens of vehicles were damaged in the parking lot of the First Spiritualist Church on Bliss Street in Springfield’s South End. Some had obvious structural damage; most vehicles have broken shattered windshields.
Bliss Street was blocked by a fallen tree. Despite the circumstances, a number of people were light-heartedly showing off the damage
6:01 p.m. In Court Square in Springfield Jason Rodrigues, employee of the Cafe Lebanon, said the restaurant’s 60-pound concrete patio tables were smashed into pieces after being tossed into the air by the force of the storm. Concrete flower pots, each weighing 30 to 40 pounds were also tossed into air.
The restaurants and many other businesses in the downtown were closed. Businesses that remained open were largely empty, and workes are milling outside the storefronts.
Rick Paiva, who described himself as an advocate for the homeless, predicts that homelesss shelters will be packed because people won’t feel safe on the street. He was outside the Peter Pan bus station when the tornado touched down. “I saw debris flying all over ... the funnel scared be a little.”
6:04 p.m. Reporter Jim Kinney in the South End said windows were blown out and roofs ripped off everywhere. Damaged structures include South End Community Center, Red Rose Pizzeria, and the former Zanetti School.
Frantic parents coming to the South End center, where part of the roof was gone, were directed to the MassMutual Center where people were being evacuated.
Sandra Blaney said she had just left work and was in her car on Bliss Street when she saw trees snap. “I just closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see what happened.”
She felt the glass hit her as her windows blew out. When she opened her eyes, she saw the devastation. Blaney said She suffered minor cuts.
She said she was working in lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001. “It reminded me of that horrible day.”
6:08 p.m. Police are setting up a triage center for non life-threatening injuries at Dunkin Donuts at Main and Central streets.
6:09 p.m. Jane Albert of Baystate Medical Center in Springfield said there are people coming in injured by the tornado. There are high velocity wounds caused by trees and other debris.
“We have the walking wounded coming in on their own and others being brought in by ambulance,” she said.
There are serious injuries. Surgeons are there and have set up more trauma rooms. Patients may be transferred to other hospitals if Baystate gets overwhelmed.
6:12 p.m. Janice Kucewicz of Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer said they had not received any injuries yet but are preparing for possible injuries, especially from Monson. Both hospitals moved patients away from windows and into hallways prior to the tornado.
6:14 p.m. The storm is coming from the west and is gaining power. It is expected to hit Springfield immediately.
6:17 p.m. Tornado touchdowns had been reported in Westfield and Springfield, according to Alan Dunham, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. The Westfield tornado touched down at 4:30 p.m. in the Shaker Road area. The Springfield tornado touched down at 4:32 p.m. and was moving east.
By 6 p.m., it was in Sturbridge. “We are also watching the West Springfield-Holyoke line,” said Dunham. He said the exact location, strength and length of time or each tornado would not be available until Thursday morning or possibly Wednesday night.
6:17 p.m. Reporter Patrick Johnson and Photographer Donald Treeger are at Union and Maple Streets and there is one 5-story building at Maple and Main Street that has lost its entire top floor.
6:18 p.m. A family from Westfield reported wind picked up a gas barbecue grill and flung it off a deck on Steiger Drive in Westfield.
6:22 p.m. Adam E. Formus, of Enfield, was working at DMS Inc. on the 16th and top floor of One Financial Plaza overlooking Court Square. “We could hear people in the hall yelling for us to get in the stairwell,” he said. “When it passed we could feel the pressure change. It was likek riding up in an elevator.”
6:23 p.m. Police are reporting a funnel cloud was spotted near Baystate Medical Center. It has not touched down yet. All are being told to take shelter.
6:24 p.m. The bottom of a big dark cloud was witnessed at the Republican newsroom. It was moving about two blocks a second and looked to be about 500 feet off the ground.
6:24 p.m. another tornado has been reported touching down on Chestnut street and State and Walnut Streets.
6:27 p.m. Al Lara, Spokesman for Western Massachusetts Electric Co. said right now there are 10,581 customers without electricity. The bulk are in Springfield with 8,753 and the next largest amount is West Springfield with 554. There are 150 in Agawam.
The company has ask for assistance from Connecticut Light and Power, which will send 20 crews to help.
6:29 p.m. Police patrolled from Main Street to the Chicopee line and did not see any evidence of tornado touchdowns.
6:32 p.m. Springfield Police reported a tornado touchdown on Pasco Road.
6:34 p.m. Stephen Frasier, of the UMass Amherst Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and director of its Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory, chases tornadoes in the Midwest said there are generally one to two tornados a year in Massachusetts. But Wednesday’s tornado “was a pretty big system,” and was “uncharacteristic.”
A tornado of that power can spawn “dozens of little tornadoes,” he said as it moved East. He said officials won’t know how powerful it was until the damage is assessed.
6:36 p.m. A few dozen Minnechaug Regional High School students arrived at the MassMutual Center in Springfield at 6:30 p.m., late for their senior prom. Senior John Cushman, of Hampden, arrived in a limo with seven other students.
“A lot of the roads were closed in Wilbraham. We had to go down other streets because there were trees blocking the way.”
The MassMutal Center has been set up as a temporary shelter. Cushman said he and other students were rushed from their limo by Springfield Police and told to get inside because of the threat of another twister.
6:39 p.m. Police at St. Michael’s Academy at Surry Road reported a priest has been injured.
6:40 p.m. Motor vehicle accident is being reported at Alden and Wilbraham Road with people trapped inside.
6:41 p.m. Police are reporting there was no serious damage caused by the second tornado that touched down on Pasco Road or on Chestnut Street.p
In all fairness, tornadoes in these parts are pretty rare occurrences. The reporters have to get excited about something b/c they got nuthin'...only2s or 4s at the most.
Great coverage from the folks at WWLP. I have been watching since the beginning.
NWS reports tornado near Brimfield, Hampden country under a Tornado warning.
I hope the “youths” in Springfield don’t loot tonight. The storm hit the “community” pretty hard. I hope the best for the safety of the residents in the coming hours.
Westfield MA reports heavy damage to utilities. No phone or power reported in many areas.
Watching it on my Droid, that’s some crazy video. I need to watch it on my computer monitor when I get home. Thank you for posting that link.
Yeah, I’m sure Governor Patrick won’t do anything prudent, like send in more state troopers, or mobilize a local national guard unit. He’s probably on the phone with his buddy Barack to arrange a visit to the affected areas.
Haley Barbour set the standard for preempting potential looting. I still remember Haley Barbour’s famous directive (following Hurricane Katrina) that looters “will be shot.” The “youths” in Mississippi took him at his word and there was virtually no looting in the Magnolia State.
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