Tornado's damage stuns New Englanders

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 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 the deadliest year for tornadoes since 1950. The highest recorded toll was 519 in 1953; four deaths from Joplin, Mo., that were added yesterday tied the record.

Tornadoes are not unheard of in New England -- the downtown of Connecticut's largest city was devastated by one last June -- 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.

But in many cases, doing the right thing helped save lives.

Inside Adams Hometown Market, produce manager Frank Calabrese made a quick decision that helped keep customers and employees from coming to harm: He herded them into a walk-in freezer, where six to eight endless minutes passed while the building shook and windows shattered.

"What else are we going to do?" he said. "We sat inside and waited it out." No one in the store suffered a scratch.

The storms hit as many people headed home from work Wednesday, paralyzing motorists who could see the twister coming at them.

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, usually a quiet mountain hamlet about 90 miles west of Boston.

The toppled steeple of the First Church of Monson, founded in 1762 and rebuilt in 1873, was a symbol of the heartbreak many residents were feeling. But townspeople were relieved that no one in the town of fewer than 10,000 was killed.

Authorities initially believed four people had died but determined later that a heart attack death in Springfield was probably unrelated to the storms.

Gov. Deval Patrick, who declared a state of emergency, allowing officials to sidestep usual regulations to provide quick relief, pledged that the state would throw all its resources behind recovery and that federal disaster assistance would be sought.

"For those who are feeling, quite understandably, that they can't imagine what a better tomorrow would look like, I want to assure that we are working to get to that better tomorrow," he said.