Four Killed As Storms Carve Path of Destruction in MA (Springfield Tornado)

[SwampYankee]

Not to the scale of the Joplin tornado, but strong for this area.

Staff Reports
The Hartford Courant
10:30 a.m. EDT, June 2, 2011

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was in Massachusetts Thursday morning assessing the damage from a series of storms – including at least one confirmed tornado – that killed at least four people and tore through several communities from Westfield through Sturbridge Wednesday.


Scott MacLeod, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, confirmed the deaths Wednesday night but said there were no details about the circumstances.


Dennis Pinkham, External Affairs Officer with FEMA's regional office in Boston, said a team has been deployed to the areas impacted by Wednesday weather to assess the damage.


"We're working closely with the state Emergency Management Agency to determine if they have any needs they can't meet that we can help with," he said.


Multiple tornados sightings were reported and survey teams from the National Weather Service office in Tauton will be in Massachusetts to determine how many tornadoes actually touched down, said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

"We know we're deal with at least two tornados and maybe three but the survey teams will be making that determination," he said.

This video is pretty impressive, shot from a weather cam in Springfield. Even though the tornado doesn't look like a text book tornado at this point, it's amazing to see the amount of water it moved as it crossed over the CT River.

http://youtu.be/NchH55X9Dc8

[TX76513]

That's terrible. Sure has been a tough year with tornadoes