Tornadoes hit Massachusetts
Residents of 18 communities in central and western Massachusetts woke to widespread damage Thursday, a day after at least two late-afternoon tornadoes shocked emergency officials with their suddenness and violence and caused the state's first tornado-related deaths in 16 years.
Section:Picture story
The path of destruction is shown by damaged buildings and trees in Monson, Mass. Thursday, June 2, 2011 one day after it was devastated by a tornado.
Elise Amendola Associated Press
The Rev. Bob Marrone was pained to see the steeple of his 137-year-old church shattered and strewn on the grass in the central Massachusetts town of Monson, yet he knows he's more fortunate than some of his neighbors who lost their homes after tornadoes tore through the state, killing at least three people and injuring about 200.
Associated Press
The clock from the steeple of The First Church of Monson lay in rubble Thursday, June 2, 2011 one day after a tornado swept through Monson, Mass.
Elise Amendola Associated Press
A woman walks down a road with sheared trees in Monson, Mass. Thursday, June 2, 2011 one day after it was devastated by a tornado.
Elise Amendola Associated Press
Two people were killed in West Springfield and another in Brimfield, authorities said. A Springfield death previously blamed on storms may have been an unrelated heart attack, Gov. Deval Patrick said Thursday. Public health officials said about 200 people sought medical treatment for storm-related injuries. The death in West Springfield was a woman who used her body to shield her 15-year-old daughter in a bathtub in their apartment, Patrick said. The daughter survived.
Associated Press
Nilsa Gonzalez sits outside in her neighborhood completely damaged by a tornado a day before in Springfield, Mass., Thursday, June 2, 2011.
Jessica Hill Associated Press
Storm damage is seen a day after a tornado in Springfield, Mass., Thursday, June 2, 2011.
Jessica Hill Associated Press
The storm pulverized or sheared off the tops of roofs on Main Street in Springfield. A debris-filled funnel swept into downtown from the west, then swirled across the Connecticut River.
Associated Press
A man enters his home a day after a tornado in Springfield, Mass., Thursday, June 2, 2011.
Jessica Hill Associated Press
A car is crushed by storm debris a day after a tornado touched down in Springfield, Mass., Thursday, June 2, 2011.
Jessica Hill Associated Press
A man wipes his eyes as he sorts through children’s clothes on the roof of his home a day after a tornado in Springfield, Mass., Thursday, June 2, 2011.
Jessica Hill Associated Press
The governor declared a state of emergency and called up 1,000 National Guardsmen after the storms, which 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.
Associated Press
Firefighters from the Massachusetts Bureau of Forrest Fire Control walk down a street with filled with damage from yesterday’s tornado in Springfield, Mass., Thursday, June 2, 2011.
Jessica Hill Associated Press
Children stand in front of a damaged house a day after a tornado in Springfield, Mass., Thursday, June 2, 2011.
Jessica Hill Associated Press
Massachusetts hasn't experienced a tornado since 2008, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. The last killer tornado in Massachusetts was on May 29, 1995, when three people died in Great Barrington, a town along the New York state border. The state's deadliest recorded tornado on June 9, 1953, killed 94 people in the Worcester area.
Associated Press
Shawn Menard, right, reaches to help homeowner Tony Esposito from atop the rubble of his home in Monson, Mass. Thursday, June 2, 2011 one day after it was destroyed by a tornado. Esposito said no one was injured at his home.
Elise Amendola Associated Press
People view sheared trees and damaged homes in Monson, Mass. Thursday, June 2, 2011 one day after it was devastated by a tornado.
Elise Amendola Associated Press
A man carries rugs from his home a day after a tornado in Springfield, Mass., Thursday, June 2, 2011.
Jessica Hill Associated Press
People embrace on a street damaged yesterday’s tornado in Springfield, Mass., Thursday, June 2, 2011. Residents of 19 small communities in central and western Massachusetts were left to deal with widespread damage Thursday, one day after at least two late-afternoon tornadoes shocked emergency officials and residents more accustomed to dealing with snow and bone-chilling cold than funnel clouds spawned by spring storms.
Jessica Hill Associated Press