Massachusetts twisters push toll toward record

MONSON, Mass. – The sight of flattened homes, peeled-off roofs and the toppled steeple of a 140-year-old church stunned New Englanders after deadly tornadoes swept through Massachusetts, striking an area of the country that rarely sees such severe twisters.

The storms, which came with fair warning but still shocked with their intensity, killed at least three people, injured about 200 and wreaked damage in a string of 18 cities and villages across central and western Massachusetts.

If the National Weather Service agrees Wednesday’s three deaths are tornado-related, it would bring the year’s U.S. toll to 522 and make this year the deadliest for tornadoes since 1950. The highest recorded toll was 519 in 1953; four deaths from Joplin, Mo., that were added Thursday tied the record.

Tornadoes are not unheard of in New England, so many people heeded warnings. That didn’t guarantee their survival; among the dead was a mother who shielded her teenage daughter as they huddled in a bathtub.

The devastation was repeated in town after town around Springfield. Some of the most severe damage was in Monson, about 15 miles away, where homes were leveled and a historic church was badly damaged.

“This isn’t supposed to happen here,” Sen. John Kerry said after touring the damage in Monson, a quiet mountain hamlet about 90 miles west of Boston.

Authorities initially believed at least four people died but later determined that a heart attack death in Springfield was likely unrelated to the storms. A man died when a tree struck a van in West Springfield, and another person died in Brimfield, though authorities have not released details.