Tornado 'watch' issued for metro area till 8 p.m

[x635 4,066]

Tornado 'watch' issued for metro area till 8 p.m

http://www.lohud.com/article/20110601/NEWS/110601003/Tornado-watch-issued-metro-area-till-8-p-m-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage

[27east 19]

Seems like it was canceled. Heavy storms are way up to the north

[joetnymedic 43]

springfield, ma got hit twice. multiple builds damaged, pd doing building to building searches. fatality at a campground in brimfield from a building collapse. pretty bad up there. 911 as of an hour ago had over 100 calls backed up. hope the brothers and sisters working there stay safe

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Mass. State Police Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) en route for search and rescue operations.

MSP has highways into Springfield shut down to non-emergency traffic

Numerous MA and northern CT Fire Departments setting up Task Forces and Strike Teams to assist.

1927: Reports of people kicking in doors (possible looting) on Winthrop Street, Springfield (PD Live Feed) Large crowd found but Officers reported on the radio "nobody saw anything"

1933: Springfield PD sounding alert tones, NWS reporting possible touchdown of another tornado within the next 15 minutes. Advising units to use caution and shelter in place if necessary.

1937: Springfield PD Narcotics reporting a completely leveled house at Cambria and Pennsylvania. Attempting to assess if anyone is inside.

1938: MA National Guard on scene, heading to 50 Maple Street for Staging and Liasion.

1939: Update from NWS, another event predicted for approximately 8:00PM. "Eyes to the sky." Units advised to shelter in place if necessary.

[grumpyff 1,159]

Springfield looks like it got hit pretty hard. Here is one website with 25 photos from around the city http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/tornado-in-springfield-massachusetts Look slike it is going to be a long night for our brothers and sisters in the emergency services up there.

[CFFD117 19]

according to the news, at least 4 are dead, 2 in Westfield, 1 in Springfield, and 1 in brimfield. there have been reports of looting, but no arrests have been made. Gov. Deval Patrick is having a press conference as I type this.

Edited June 2, 2011 by CFFD117

[Future Fireman 4]

The tornadoes were all from one or two cells out of all of the severe thunderstorms that came through yesterday. The cell for the most part basically followed the path of the Mass Pike.

It went all the way from Westfield & Greater Springfield area to finishing off in Millbury. Inbetween those two areas, there are at least a dozen towns that have sustained damage.

The town of Southbridge got hit hard, and they actually had the tornado cross the I-84/I-90 Toll Plaza. Rt. 20 in that town is also impassible, although they are starting to finally clear away most of the damage. Oxford, 2 towns south of Worcester, got hit hard. Millbury, getting the tail end, just got the finishing touches of the storm. From my friends that are MFD's explorer post, they've had only a handful of storm related calls, which, considering the NWS was tracking a tornado through Millbury, is damn good.

A friend from another forum I'm on, caught the following on the Webster Rescue online live feed: "Didn't catch the town, 'Roof is off Police HQ & EOC'"

From a friend that's still on an ambulance task force (that got mobilized, around 17:30 yesterday) in Brimfield, he says that the area is basically destroyed.

Springfield Fire & Police issued an all-staff recall yesterday. Unsure if that's still in effect.

While a fire task force was responding to Palmer, another town hit hard, Worcester's Engine 16 was either on the Mass Pike or US 20, and had the tornado right in front of them while they were responding as part of the task force.

Another friend, who's on a fire task force that came up from Connecticut, he said last night to the effect that the statement "It's pretty bad" is the understatement of the year.

The Massachusetts FEMA USAR Task Force 1 has been mobilized and set up in Springfield.

State of Emergency has been declared by the governor.

For those that want to listen in to the scanners about the latest, here's 2 links to online scanner feeds.

Webster Rescue Feed: www.websterrescue.com/live/shtml

Hampden County Fire/PD feed: Radio Reference feed

Mike

Edited June 2, 2011 by Future Fireman

[Future Fireman 4]

Youtube video of damage in Brimfield: (Explicit!!!!!)

http://youtu.be/SSPMOoAEys8

Edited June 2, 2011 by Future Fireman

[Haggerty 1029 16]

It was a Tornado watch alright i watched it go through my town. Tornado touched down 1/4 mile from where I picked my mother up from work in Southbridge on rte 169, at the time I didn’t know what was happening but I was driving out of the storm, and I could barely keep my truck on the road, if I’d known what was happening I would have stayed indoors. My dad has worked 18 hours since the storm hit. The local airport was destroyed only 3 planes left out of about 20 most flipped over on the runway, 2 were in a swamp, 1 was in a sand dune type hill right off of the runway. Only 1 death in my area in Brimfield Ma. If the storm had hit 1/2 mile more south of us we would have had many deaths. The storm basically went through Brimfield into Sturbridge into Southbridge and the funnel dissipated almost at the Charlton Southbridge line according to the national weather service talked to some of their personal today. Just in my town we had support from 3 other agencies covering our fire house. Mass State police, Worcester County Sheriff, and the National Guard were handling some of the traffic while Southbridge ran the calls along with some troopers; the CAT team was deployed in Southbridge last night. As I was driving my mother and sister home down a road that follows 84 west it came over the PD radio that a second and more severe storm was making its way up 84 almost at the CT border, at that point I was 3 miles from the border, never been as scared in my life as when that come over the air. At this point school is cancelled for the next few days, about 1/4 of Sturbridge has power, including myself; a good chunk of Southbridge has power. Looking at the damage it’s amazing no one was seriously hurt. The gentlemans F350 is supporting his garage.

[PCFD ENG58 1,085]

I was at my camp that is 25 miles south of I-90 in the Mohawk Valley near Copperstown N.Y. between 2pm and 5pm winds over 75 mph with gusts higher, ran for my life !

[milan fire dept probie 2]

Came through I-90 right after the twister hit springfield. Thought we were already passed there till the sign on 90 said Springfield 10 miles. Drove straight through the storm got a photo of funnel cloud as we drove under it. numerous police and fire units headed up 90. Saw what looked to be an entire company unknown who, but 4 engines and rescue and a tower and chief all in a single line headed toward springfield. Cant believe the power of the storm.

[Future Fireman 4]

Came through I-90 right after the twister hit springfield. Thought we were already passed there till the sign on 90 said Springfield 10 miles. Drove straight through the storm got a photo of funnel cloud as we drove under it. numerous police and fire units headed up 90. Saw what looked to be an entire company unknown who, but 4 engines and rescue and a tower and chief all in a single line headed toward springfield. Cant believe the power of the storm.

That was REALLY smart right there!

The fire companies you saw were probably one of the task forces mobilized to respond.

Rumor has it that after it went through Springfield it picked up again and became an EF-4. Again, that's a rumor, but I'm a native Masshole who has no clue about Tornadoes other than take cover and don't get sucked up with the cows.