As in Joplin and Memphis, life in Western Massachusetts can change in an instant.

A series of fast-moving tornadoes carrying winds of over 90 mph Wednesday gave Western Massachusetts residents a terrifying glimpse of what their Midwestern neighbors have been experiencing last month.

And as it was in Joplin and Memphis; Raleigh and Tuscaloosa; along the Missouri and the Mississippi, everything changed in a minute.

One minute the clouds darken and the radio waves crackle with storm warnings. One minute faculty and staff at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst are told to descend to the lowest point in their buildings; the next minute, the cloud is spotted over the Connecticut River in Springfield. People who never gave a thought to what they might do in a tornado are trying to remember whether it is safer in the bathtub or the basement.

Meanwhile a tractor-trailer on the Memorial Bridge is suddenly overturned. A community center is minus a roof and the MassMutual Center, which last week hosted a college graduation, is now settling evacuees from the entire South End of the city. A tree that once sheltered a backyard pool is now in the pool. A grill has been tossed from one yard to another as if it were a feather. Power lines and downed limbs are everywhere.

In a minute.

And in the next minutes comes the response. Police and fire stations empty into the streets as emergency workers call their families to say that no one will be home for dinner anytime soon. The newsroom hums with a frenzy as reporters and photographers are sent throughout the city to record the first-hand accounts of people who never expected to see a journalist in their living room, but who never expected to see a tree limb there either. Editors directing the coverage from the city room listen to the street names over the police scanner wondering if their house might have been hit by the funnel cloud and frantically call to check on loved ones.

Meanwhile civilian attention turns to the Internet, the television, the radio, and the cell phone, all of which suddenly seem maddeningly slow. Friends and family are checked on and checked off. Adrenaline rises, then falls, then rises again as the disembodied voice on the scanner says that another touchdown could come within minutes.

Minutes.

And with a journalist’s precision, we mourn the one known fatality, the injuries and the damages which are still being tallied. Tornado strength is measured on an F-scale from F-0 to F-5. We won’t know for days the category of Wednesday’s tornadoes but already it was sufficient for Gov. Deval L. Patrick to declare a state of emergency and call up 1,000 National Guard troops. And we can only try to comprehend what Joplin’s enhanced F-5 tornado – killing more than 125 people and injuring 900 others – must have been like. In Joplin, homes are gone forever, furniture and photographs are scattered for miles. People start picking up the pieces and amazingly most say how lucky they feel.

Their life has changed in a minute, and their recovery will last for years. Some of our neighbors will also doubtless need our help and understanding as they cope with their injuries, property loss and psychological damage.

We are grateful, we sympathize, and we reach out to our neighbors, amid the realization that everything can change in a minute.

Many roads are impassable in Monson.

One person was killed in the storm in Brimfield and a church and a number of homes were destroyed in Monson.

State police confirmed the death and said detectives are in Brimfield investigating. More information was not available immediately.

A pastor in Monson says his town has been walloped by an apparent tornado that took down his church’s steeple, while battering houses and uprooting massive trees.

The Rev. Bob Marrone of The First Church of Monson said roads are impassable after the storm struck late Wednesday afternoon.

The steeple fell, but Marrone said he’s more concerned about massive damage to homes in Monson, south of the Quabbin Reservoir

Marrone said when the storm hit, he and his wife took shelter in the first floor of their house, until breaking windows led them to flee to the basement.

He said he emerged to find nine of 10 oaks along his driveway down, one crab apple tree tossed 150 feet and devastation “360 degrees around us.”

In Brimfield, trees were downed along Route 20 and the Fire Department is weighing whether to close the roadway to traffic. Trees and other debris also blocked Hollow Road, and police closed Route 19 to traffic.

One man traveling along Route 20 said the wind had picked his sport-utility vehicle off the ground and moved it across the road.

Reports from the Associated Press were used in this story.

Shelters are currently available in West Springfield, Wilbraham, Palmer, Monson and Springfield.

Shelters for tornado victims have been set up in West Springfield, Springfield, Wilbraham, Palmer and Monson.

Below, a map of the locations. If you know of other shelter locations or resources that should be added to the map, please post to the comments.

Click here for updates from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

View Western Mass. shelters for tornado victims in a larger map

The Extra edition will include 14 pages of photos and stories on the historic storms that swept from Westfield to Charlton, hitting downtown Springfield.

06.01.2011 | SPRINGFIELD - The storm's path along Roosevelt Ave., viewed from Wendover Road. [Photo by Mark Murray | The Republican}

Several readers of MassLive submitted photos of the tornado and its aftermath

SPRINGFIELD - As a funnel cloud appeared on the horizon and began cutting a swath through Hampden County, the first thought for most was to seek shelter. For some, the second thought was 'Where's my cell phone?'

Readers throughout the area submitted photos with the cell phones of the tornado and its aftermath to MassLive.com. Their pictures appear in the enclosed photo gallery.

Luke Rottman submitted a photo of a funnel cloud across the UMass campus

Jim Feroli of Westfield shot a picture of the funnel cloud in Westfield while he was in traffic on Route 20.

Richard Sanderson, the curator of Physical Science for the Springfield Science Museum, was at the main branch of the Springfield post office on Liberty Street, when he saw the funnel cloud swerling past Tower Square, which he calls by its former name of Baystate West, at around 4:45 p.m.

"I could see a huge cloud of swirling debris approach from the west, and then the tornado curved behind Baystate West as it headed for the South End," he said. "Some people were screaming and running into the Post Office building, while others just stood there staring at the sky. Within minutes, the streets in downtown Springfield were clogged with cars as ambulances, police cars and fire engines were racing in various directions."

Joel McAuliffe of Chicopee waited for the storm to pass and then went out to look at the damage. He submitted several pictures taken with his iPhone of the Memorial Bridge, and parts of West Springfield.

McAuliffe, who once had an internship with MassLive, said it was pretty clear immediately that the storm and its damage was big news and he wanted to go out and document it.

At the MassMutual Center, shaken and weeping adults arrived with babies in strollers, wailing children clinging to their legs and whatever belongings they could salvage in plastic bags. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD – Sandra E. Blaney saw the trees on Bliss Street bending in the wind and thinking to herself: Those trees are pretty old. There is no way they could break.”

Blaney had just moved to Northampton from New York City. She’s had her new job at Johnson and Hill Staffing for less than a month. She’s only had her 2011 Subaru a few weeks.

And now she was stuck in traffic with a funnel cloud bearing down her.

“I closed my eyes,” she said. “I didn’t want to see what was going to happen.”

But she felt the car windows break inward. She felt the shards of broken glass hit her arms and neck. When she opened her eyes, the parking lot seemed a wasteland, she said. Cars were destroyed. Trees down. Bricks from nearby buildings littered the ground.

Blaney said she saw injured people. She was unhurt.

“I’m just shaken up. Shaking like a leaf,” she said.

She’d just started a job in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001.

“This reminded me of that terrible day,” she said.

Further south, the area around Howard Street was transformed into a war zone, with bricks form the heavily-damaged South End Community Center littering the ground. Parents screamed for their children. Workers at Red Rose Pizza loaded as much food as they could into their cars and fled their damaged building.

Police told people who couldn’t move their cars to take all their valuables and any documents with their names and addresses. Police feared looting.

When word spread that more storms were coming, people fled north on Main Street. A father shouted “Andale! Arriba! Arriba!” as he herded his family into a minivan.

A few blocks away at the MassMutual Center , shaken and weeping adults arrived with babies in strollers, wailing children clinging to their legs and whatever belongings they could salvage in plastic bags.

“I just made it to my basement before it hit,” said a wobbly Jenny Torres, whose young daughter clung to her knees and sobbed.

Torres said she, her three children and dogs were safe, but her home at 96 Central Street was destroyed.

“The winds tore a hole in the foundation and the windows and roof are gone,” she said, before taking cover in the entertainment venue on Main Street.

Evacuees from the city’s hard hit South End neighborhood were directed there shortly after the first touch-down. The first to arrive was a busload of toddlers and preschoolers from a downtown day care center damaged during the tornado.

Hundreds rested on folding chairs in a large exhibit hall with a concrete floor while the Minnechaug Regional High School senior prom got into full swing on the second level.

At South Congregational Church, 45 Maple St., Springfield, a few dozen people took shelter in the basement. Harry Lofland, 55, of 323 Central St., Springfield, said, “It took the roof right off of my building. I live on the fourth floor. Now I’ve got nothing.” Louis Kornet was in Court Square as the second tornado hit. He’d watched the first storm from his office on the 16th and uppermost floor of One Financial Plaza on Court Square. He and his colleagues watched the clouds form and start to swirl high over West Springfield.

“It was like watching a television show,” Kornet said. “You only see these things in movies.”

Adam E. Formus of Enfield was also working on the 16th floor. He said and his coworkers were transfixed by the gathering storm, he said.

“Then there were people in the hallway screaming at us to get in the stairwell in the center of the building,” Formus said.

Once there, he knew the storm had passed because his ears popped.

“You could feel the pressure change,” he said. “It was like riding up in an elevator.”

Next thing he knew, he was being evacuated down the stairs and out the door.

Another worker in One Financial Plaza saw boards and debris swirling in the storm cloud.

“It sounded like a freight train,” she said. “It was moving so fast. It just came down on us.”

Debris hit the 13th floor of One Financial Plaza where Martha G. Waldron was working.

“We saw the dark clouds and we saw how the river was so turbulent, and then all of a sudden, you saw debris flying at our level and you could see a dark funnel cloud,” said Waldron, critical quality improvement coordinator with BMC HealthNet Plan.

“It was just a weird experience,” she said.

The weather showed its surprising power in another way, she said, recounting how the energy of the funnel cloud seemed to lift part of the Connecticut River, visible from her office. “It looked almost like the water was coming up,” Waldron said.

Springfield resident Mirna Colón was getting her hair done at a downtown hair salon when what she described as dark cloud began covering the sky.

“I saw a dark cloud and then what looked as a tornado, a lot of wind with garbage,” said Colon.

Victor Melendez, of Springfield tied to help.

“I may be 71 years old but I am agile and have gone through similar things in hurricanes,” said Melendez, native of Puerto Rico. In Wilbraham, Rebecca Lamb said she was working in the Village Store when a neighbor told her they saw the tornado in the sky.

“We had a lot of Wilbraham & Monson Academy kids in here,” she said. “The basement is not set up for tornadoes. She said she told the students to run back to school.

Lamb said one of the Village Store employees went back to her home at the corner of Main Street and Tinkham Road in Wilbraham and found that the house was missing rooms and the garage.

Emergency workers have been responding from Ludlow and Bondsville, Lamb said. “It’s good to see our neighbors coming here.”

Carol Teixeira Dragon, vice president of operations at the Mansfield Paper Co. on Union Street in West Springfield said, “There were things literally blowing through the building.” She said she “looked outside and there were trees swaying and blowing over on top of cars, and wall panels flew off the top of the building.”

Ross Rodgers, of 61 Pontoosic Road in Westfield sent his wife Theresa and their grandson to the basement then watched the funnel pass overhead. “It blew out a window in the bathroom and brought down a large tree,” Ross Rodgers said.

Some people treated at Baystate Medical Center did not have homes to which to return.

Area hospitals set their emergency plans in motion Wednesday as soon as tornado warnings were broadcast.

At Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, the plan began before the tornado hit.

First there was a “Code D standby” declared when the tornado warning was issued. At 5:30 p.m., when the gravity of the situation became apparent, there was a Code D, Deborah Provost, vice-president for surgery and anesthesia in the emergency department, said.

With Code D, staff are not allowed to go home. “Call trees” are activated to have more people come in, especially trauma surgeons.

The staff made sure all operating rooms were up and in operation. All patients already in the emergency department who needed to be admitted were moved to patient rooms.

Baystate opened an alternate triage center at the medical building at One Medical Center Drive for the less seriously injured.

That left the Emergency Department clear for the seriously injured.

Provost said when some people with less serious storm-related injuries were ready to go home, some did not have homes to go to.

The hospital bused them to the MassMutual Center, the shelter set up for people who had nowhere to go.

By 7:30 p.m. one person had already had surgery and was doing well, she said.

By that time, the hospital had 10 trauma patients from the storm and a number of others with less serious injuries. Provost said a second wave of patients was coming in as emergency response workers were able to get to people in need.

Ann Carroll, emergency preparedness coordinator for Mercy Medical Center, said when the tornado warnings started before 4:30 p.m. preparations began. She said she saw the tornado, a funnell cloud, a lot of debris in the cloud. Staff got patients away from windows into the hallways.

Mary Orr of Mercy Medical Center said at about 8:30 p.m. the hospital had 23 patients with injuries related to the storm, with none of those life threatening.

At Mercy the emergency response is called Level 1. It meant staff and medical personnel stayed on beyond their shifts and additional staff was called in.

Orr said Mercy’s methadone clinic on Mill Street in Springfield will not be in operation Thursday because of damage to the area around it. She said clients who normally go to that site should go to Providence Behavioral Health Hospital at 1233 Main St. in Holyoke Thursday for their medication, and should enter through the back of the building.

At Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer, patients were moved away from windows and the hospital prepared for possible victims, spokeswoman Janice Kucewicz said.

By 8:30 p.m. the hospital was treating several patients from the storm, she said. It appeared their injuries were mild to moderate, she said.

That hospital had staff stay on in preparation for possible injuries, she said.

Kerry joined Gov. Deval Patrick in Springfield late Wednesday to survey the damage caused by several unexpected tornadoes.

Sen. John Kerry and Gov. Deval Patrick speak at a press conference in Springfield.

John Kerry's statement

U.S. Sen. John Kerry joined Gov. Deval Patrick in Springfield late Wednesday to survey the damage suffered by the city of Springfield after a series of storms left several dead and even more injured.

"Emergency teams are already in Framingham and on their way from Vermont and will be here immediately tomorrow morning in order to do the emergency assessments with respect to federal help in order to do this," Kerry said.

Earlier Wednesday evening, Gov. Patrick declared a state of emergency in the Commonwealth and announced that over 1,000 members of the Massachusetts National Guard would be deployed to respond to the disaster, which has left at least four dead in Western Massachusetts.

"Obviously, we've been hit by these across the country, so it requires all of us to come together in a special kind of way to help our neighbors, to help our communities, to look out for others," Kerry said. "And I am confident that the spirit I have seen here already tonight indicates to me understand that and the other communities that have been hit."

This is a developing story. Follow full coverage from The Republican through the night.

In response to the tornado, the worst in the Pioneer Valley in many years, Gov. Patrick called up 1,000 National Guard troops to help with the recovery. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD - Two tornadoes ripped through Greater Springfield Wednesday, killing two while carving a trail of destruction from Westfield to Sturbridge.

In the worst tornado outbreak in a century, nine communities were battered by back-to-back storms that left extensive damage and 38,000 homes without power late Wednesday night.

As emergency workers searched neighborhoods for people trapped in homes or cars, Gov. Deval L. Patrick declared a state of emergency, called up 1,000 National Guard troops to help with the recovery, and planned to visit Springfield late Wednesday night.

One death was reported in West Springfield where a woman was killed when a tree crushed a car on Main Street, and one in Brimfield, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

The first funnel cloud touched down in Springfield at 4:30 p.m., battering downtown and the South End before slicing across East Forest Park and Sixteen Acres.

Brenda J. Gooch said she and coworkers saw the tornado forming over West Springfield from her perch on the 13th floor of First Financial Plaza overlooking Court Square where she works for Boston Medical.

“We were just transfixed by it. It was just huge - very dark. You could see debris and boards and everything flying through it.”

They saw it approaching.

“It was just horrible,” Gooch said. “It was like a freight train coming right at us. It was coming so fast.”

A supervisor herded everyone into a women’s rest room in the center of the floor.

The tornado felled at least 10 trees, some large oaks and some trees 4 and 5 feet in diameter. The debris and trees were in a circular pattern facing clockwise.

Emergency personnel zigzagged across the city, responding to reports of building collapses and fires, toppled trees and downed powerlines.

At Baystate Medical Center, 10 people were treated for traumatic injuries Wednesday night, and others with less serious injuries. Mercy Medical Center treated 23 with storm-injuries.

State Police reported tornado damage in Agawam, Charlton, Monson, Oxford, Springfield, West Springfield, Westfield, Wilbraham, and Sturbridge.

In Springfield, a command post was set up at 50 Maple St., and medical personnel were began treating minor injuries at Dunkin’ Donuts on at Main and Central Streets. The State Police have also activated the Special Emergency Response Team and members of the K-9 Unit to assist in searching damaged structures if the possibility of people are trapped in same.

In Springfield and elsewhere, trees blocked many of the major roads, snarling traffic for rescue workers and residents coming home from work.

The tornado hit Cathedral High School and St. Michael’s Academy on Surrey Road. One elderly priest with a broken leg and dislocated his shoulder was taken by ambulance from St. Michael’s.

Windows were blown out at Cathedral; students were inside the building at the time but were uninjured.

Especially hard hit in Springfield were Maple Street, East Forest Park, Court Square and Sixteen Acres.

The South End Community Center lost its roof, and frantic parents looking for children in an after school program were directed to the MassMutual Center, which was housing evacuees.

Stephen Frasier, a tornado-chaser and professor with the UMass Amherst Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, said tornadoes are not “as rare as you think.” Generally, there are one or two a year in Massachusetts. But Wednesday’s tornado “was a pretty big system,” and was “uncharacteristic,” Frasier said.

Illustration by Bob RichGraphic of communities affected by Wednesday's tornado

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said he would tour the damage today, and was assured that a team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency would do so also.

In West Springfield, Pamela Arwady was shopping toward the back of the TJ Maxx store at Century Center on Memorial Drive when the storm hit at approximately 4:30 p.m.

“A woman came back running from the front of the store, yelling: ‘There’s a tornado in the parking lot. You’ve got to find shelter,’” Arwady recalled.

She ran, with a group of other shoppers and employees, into a steel-sided room in the back of the store.

“You could hear the rushing noise, and you could feel the air getting sucked out of the little area where we were,” she said. “I could feel it over my feet.”

In Westfield, police reported the southeast section of the city, including the Shaker Road, Shaker Heights and Pontoosic Road areas, were hit hard by the tornado when it touched down there. Police said there was “significant property damage” in the section of the city bordering Agawam and Southwick.

A section of roof at the Munger Hill Elementary School was blown off, and schools will be closed today, according to police Lt. Lawrence P. Valliere.

“Part of the roof was whacked,” said Valliere. Schools are closed in Wilbraham also today. Police and the municipal utility, the Westfield Gas & Electric Light Department, reported widespread power outages due to downed trees and utility poles brought down by the wind.

Ross and Theresa Rodgers, of 61 Pontoosic, had recently placed the home their family has lived in since 1905 on market for sale, only to find themselves now facing making repairs. “It blew out a window in the bathroom and brought down a large tree,” said Ross Rodgers.

He had dispatched his wife and their grandson to the basement for safety and then watched as a funnel cloud passed by their home, he added.

At the Hampden County Hall of Justice, Judge David Sacks had been preparing to drive a clerk to his car in the South End when he realized he had forgotten something and returned to his office on the fourth-floor shortly after 4:30 p.m.

“My timing couldn’t have been better - or worse,” Sacks said. “I saw the water spouts coming across the Memorial Bridge from my lobby.”

At that point, the judge returned to the basement garage for safety. The heaviest damage in Springfield was concentrated in downtown and South End.

Melissa Mozeleski of Chicopee said she was at work on the third floor of a medical building on Maple Street when she saw the storm come right across the river and directly toward her.
“I saw a funnel cloud,” she said.
“It was really scary and at that point I started looking to go to a lower level,” she said.

“A lot of people were frantic,” she said. No one in the building new where to go or what to do, she said.
She said it was one of the scariest moments of her life.
“To have this type of storm and not have a place to go, that’s what brought my anxiety way up,” she said.

Late Wednesday night, police and firefighters were still trying to track down residents to ensure their safety.

Cots were set up for adults and children, and McDonald's food and bottled water were offered in the makeshift resting place.

Staff photo by Mark M. MurrayBilenia Belen, holds her daughter Roselic Perez 9 month old, as her sons Nobesto David 11, and Jesus David 7, get settled in at the shelter set up at the MassMutual Center for storm victims.

SPRINGFIELD – The MassMutual Center provided its Exhibit Hall A for 500 adults and children who needed shelter from the destruction of Wednesday’s tornado.

“It’s the most intensive storm activity we’ve had in at least 20 years,” said Richard A. Lee, executive director of the American Red Cross Pioneer Valley chapter.

Earlier Wednesday, when the tornadoes were twisting through the city, dozens of people sought safety in the basement of the South Congregational Church United Church of Christ on Maple Street.

At the MassMutual Center, men, women and children tried to rest on rows of cots in the downtown arena.

Tables offered bags of McDonald’s cheeseburgers and french fries, soft drinks and bottled water.

Two televisions were set up showing first the Bruins-Canucks hockey game.

The televisions later showed a press conference broadcast from the fire station on Carew Street with U.S. John F. Kerry, Gov. Deval L. Patrick and Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno.

“We have 500 people who are sheltered here,” Lee said. “That’s the last head-count we have.”

The sounds of chattering people, the TV voices and the scraping of chairs being moved and cots being set up filled the hall, mingled with the faint strains of dance music. Upstairs, the Minnechaug Regional High School of Wilbraham’s prom proceeded as planned.

Young men in tuxedos and women in gowns sailed down the escalator to head home for the night.

Near the escalators, Junior Feliciano, 25, sat against a wall at about midnight. He was eating lunch in his second-floor apartment on Central Street when he saw the tornado outside his window, he said.

“Never in my life have I seen this,” Feliciano said.

Police swept through the streets ordering people out of their homes, he said, and he had been at the MassMutual Center since 6 p.m.

Lee said health care was available at MassMutual Center for minor issues such as headaches. People suffering more serious problems would be taken to the hospital, said Lee, who praised the MassMutual Center’s help.

“I have to say the MassMutual Center deserves a lot of credit for opening their doors to us,” Lee said.

MassMutual Center General Manager Matt Hollander said Exhibit Hall A was scheduled for a use Thursday but plans may be reevaluated.

“The most important thing is making sure everybody has a place for the night,” Hollander said.

Bilenia Belen said she was grateful for the shelter but unsure where she would go today.

“I got home and it was all damaged,” said Belen, of Pine Street.

She was laying on a cot craddling her 9-month-old daughter Roselic Perez. Her sons, Alfredo, 13, Nobesto, 11 and Jesus, 7, whose last name was David, were nearby.

“I’m just thinking, what are we going to do now?” Belen said.

Andrea C. Jenks, of Chicopee, said she was visiting family on Williams Street when the tornado smacked the house and battered the roof and walls.

“As long as I’ve lived here, I’ve never been through anything like this,” said Jenks, holding her 6-month-old daughter Lisandra.

At South Congregational Church, Yvette Whiting described how she covered her 6-year-old grandson with her body on the floor of her apartment and after the ear-splitting noise of the wind was gone, she looked up, and saw the sky.

The tornado-force wind peeled back the roof at 323 Central St., said Whiting and her boyfriend, Harry Lofland.

They were among a few dozen people who took refuge in the basement of the South Congregational Church United Church of Christ, 45 Maple St.

“The wind was just blowing real hard,” Whiting said.

Lofland displayed pictures he had taken and stored on his cell phone that showed the top of a building that looked like the top corner had been chewed off.

“It took off the roof of my building. I live on the fourth floor. I got nothing left,” Lofland said.

The church is across the street from 50 Maple St., the Baystate Visiting Nurse Association Hospice, which was the command center for public safety personnel.

Those coming in and out of the shelter looked at the police and firefighters who kept arriving in the steady rain.

Cruisers and other public safety vehicles lined the roads and parked at angles on the median with lights flashing.

From about 4:30 p.m. on, police along Maple Street used the public address radios in cruisers to blare messages to pedestrians and others who had streamed outside to see the strange weather: “Find a place to be. Go inside. Find a safe place. Get off the street.”

Church secretary Shalawnda Carr was busy leading people to the church basement for shelter, at the direction of police officers.

“I’m at a loss for words. I don’t know how to explain it. Am I scared? Absolutely, I’m scared, just looking at the people in the basement, some of them have lost their homes,” said Carr, 32.

Joewarren Marrero and his family had been at the church since about 5 p.m.

“We haven’t had dinner,” said Marrero, 29, just before 9 p.m.

Beside him sat his wife, Melissa Marrero, 26. Milling around the church were their daughters Zandalyz, 9, Chanis, 7, and son Jaiden, 3. Asleep in a baby carrier in a floor at his mother’s feet was Samuel, age 3 weeks.

The Marrerso live at East Park Street and were directed to the church by police.

“We were in the house and everything and we heard the wind start picking up and things were falling,” Mr. Marrero said.

“My wife called for me to help close the windows. The next thing I know, it sounded like jet engines. I couldn’t close a window because the pressure from the wind was so strong,” Mr. Marrero said.

The Marreros said they are unable to afford cable television and were critical of city officials for failing to provide a warning to people about the tornado.

Ultimately, Mr. and Mrs. Marrero said, the Bible foretold the damage the tornado wrought.

“I feel sorry for those who were hurt, who lost their homes, but there’s a lot of things in the Bible. Everything is in the Bible,” Mrs. Marrero said.

“Everything that’s happening is happening because there’s so much sin in the world,” Mr. Marrero said. “Everything’s happening – global warming, all these wars, earthquakes. Everything’s happening for a reason.”

Some 17,000 WMECO customers were in the dark following Wednesday's tornado.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – Utility crews around Massachusetts are scrambling to restore power to tens of thousands of residents left in the dark by tornadoes and severe thunderstorms.

Western Massachusetts Electric Co. says crews from Connecticut Light and Power and Public Service of New Hampshire are being sent in to help with restoration efforts. The utility was reporting nearly 17,000 customers without electricity as of 11 p.m. Wednesday.

National Grid said a helicopter would be used on Thursday to assess damage to power lines in hard-to-reach rural areas of the region. The utility had more than 40,000 customers without power in the aftermath of the tornadoes.

Officials say many of the outages were caused by trees bringing down power lines.

Residents are warned never to touch downed lines and to always assume that any fallen line is a live electrical wire

Western Massachusetts will be receiving help from state and federal agencies as local crews work tirelessly in the wake of the tornadoes that devastated much of the area Wednesday. Watch video

June 1, 2011 - Springfield - Republican staff photo by Michael S. Gordon - An 11:00 pm press conference at the Raymond Sullivan Safety complex of the Springfield Fire Department Wednesday following a series of tornadoes in the area, state, city and federal officials spoke about the disaster. From left, Massachusett Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray, U. S. Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., Gov. Deval Patrick and Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno.

SPRINGFIELD - Western Massachusetts will be receiving help from state and federal agencies as local crews work tirelessly in the wake of the tornadoes that devastated much of the area Wednesday.

At a press conference held at the city's Emergency Preparedness Center on Carew Street Wednesday evening, local officials were joined by Gov. Deval Patrick and Sen. John Kerry, who both assured Western Massachusetts that help in on the streets and more is on the way.

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno confirmed that more than 40 people have been hospitalized due to injuries sustained in the tornadoes, and Gov. Patrick said that there were four fatalities, two of which have been confirmed by The Republican and MassLive.com.

"This basically started out in West Springfield, moved over the bridge and really has done a devastating job on our South End. Then it went over to East Forest Park and Sixteen Acres,” Sarno said. "We were hit again in the Indian Orchard area and are still trying to confirm if we were hit another time."

Many schools in areas affected by the tornadoes are closed on Thursday and Sarno has dismissed all non-essential city employees from their duties for the day.

A 'UNIFIED RESPONSE'

Sen. Kerry expressed his condolences to the families affected and assured that the victims will be served by a "unified response."

"When I first talked to the governor when he was in the bunker in Framingham and he was with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Administration. Emergency teams have been activated and are on their way from Framingham and Vermont” Sen Kerry said. “With 19 communities affected, given what we're hearing about the damage, I can't imagine that we will not be federal assistance. I'm confident that assessment will be made in record time so we can help the community bounce back."

Patrick said the National Guard has been activated and that crews will be coming into the area through the night to help out in any way they can.

"We have called out the National Guard and there will be up to 1,000 guards fully deployed by 6 a.m. tomorrow. They will be mustering at the Armory on Roosevelt Avenue," Gov. Patrick said. "We are expecting also to make available aircraft to do assessments throughout the region tomorrow. In the meantime, we are asking people to stay off the roads and out of harms way. There are power lines down and trees all over."

WORKING TO ENSURE PUBLIC SAFETY

More than 15,000 people were without power early Thursday morning as Western Massachusetts Electric Company crews from around the region worked to first ensure safety, then to restore service.

Crews with Columbia Gas were also dispatched across the area as reports of natural gas leaks flooded in Wednesday into Thursday morning.

Both utility companies have requested assistance from other crews around the region and are working to restore service over the next several days.

Springfield Police Commissioner William Fitchett assured residents that his officers are working with state police to keep the streets safe.

"The city has arms around this crisis," Fitchett said. "Police have orders to do house-by-house searches to make sure people are safe. We will assess damage further in the morning as many side streets are inaccessible. We are asking citizens to use common sense and not go out unless it’s absolutely necessary."

Any suspected gas leaks or immediate electrical emergencies should be relayed through 911 while residents wishing to report downed trees should use the city's 311 service.

Since the structural integrity of many buildings has been compromised, Springfield Building Commissioner Steven Desilets has assembled teams to hit the streets and get a grasp on which buildings are safe and setting up emergency demolitions for those which are not.

HELPING YOUR NEIGHBORS

An emergency shelter was set up at the MassMutual Center on Wednesday to care for more than 250 locals seeking refuge.

Helen R. Caulton-Harris, the city's commissioner of human services, said anyone in need will be taken care of in the wake of the disaster.

"While many people in the shelter want to go home to assess damage to their house, we are asking them to stay until an assessment can be done in the daylight," She said. "We are providing a safe, comfortable place to have a hot meal and get the services they need. If anyone out there needs help, they should come to the MassMutual Center."

Pets of the displaced are being cared for at the Thomas J. O'Conner Animal Control Shelter and the Disaster Animal Relief Team is on the streets helping any animals in need of care.

A LOOK AT THE DESTRUCTION

Sen. Kerry said that Congressman Richard Neal will be arriving in the area Thursday morning as they along with Gov. Patrick and local officials work to assess the damage.

Sarno said he will not "spare a dime" from the city's budget to make sure the City of Firsts bounces back from this disaster.

"This has been a trying time but also a time of coordination and heroic efforts. We are all in this together," Sarno said. "I give you my word, the city of Springfield is resolute and we will move forward with rebuilding this city. Many a times in adversity, that's when character shines. Springfield is full of character."

Sen. Kerry said he has seen similar natural disasters across the country and that the response from agencies across Western Massachusetts has been among the best.

"The response has been coordinated and impressive. My sense is that everything that can be done is being done right now," Sen. Kerry said. "This is probably a once in a hundred years weather event and we've been hit with these across the county. I'm confident with the response I've seen tonight."

Carlos Campos, of 1058 Pleasant St., was convicted in 1994 of rape.

Carlos Campos

PALMER - The Police Department is notifying the public that Carlos E. Campos has been designated as a level three sex offender.

Campos, 52, of 1058 Pleasant St., is described as weighing 200 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He is 5 feet, 9 inches tall. He was convicted in 1994 of rape.

He is not wanted by police.

The Sex Offender Registry Board has determined that the degree of dangerousness posed to the public is such that a substantial public safety interest is served by active community notification. The board has determined that this individual is at a high risk to re-offend.

The Basketball Hall of Fame parking lot was being used as a staging area for dozens of ambulances and other emergency vehicles.

SPRINGFIELD – Local, state and federal officials said Thursday that cleanup efforts and security have moved into the “stabilization” phase in the aftermath of a devastating tornado, and urged the public to stay out of the hardest hit areas so as not to impede emergency personnel.

The update was provided just before noon in the parking lot of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, which was being used a staging area for dozens of ambulances and other emergency equipment including the state police mobile command unit.

“Springfield is a very resolute city,” Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said. “At adverse times, that’s when you see the character.”

As the press conference was concluding, various state and federal officials landed briefly by helicopter, in the midst of a tour of tornado damage in the region.

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., said the helicopter tour stretched from Monson to Westfield.

“It was just devastating,” Brown said. “Sobering actually.”

He was joined by U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Gov. Deval L. Patrick, and other state and federal officials.

Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet praised the “tremendous cooperation” received from the public and the cooperation and coordination conducted by all agencies including local and state police, the Fire Department and the National Guard.

Some people have been coming into the worst-hit neighborhoods to watch, which is causing some distractions to the emergency personnel on duty, Fitchet said.

“We ask that they stay out,” Fitchet said.

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal said that damage assessments are continuing in advance of assistance.

Fire Commissioner Gary G. Cassanelli, who worked into the early morning hours, said the tornado and damage were "horrible."

Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Contant said there does not appear to be any missing persons in Springfield. There are various state and federal search teams and task forces that have conducted primary searches and are also conducting secondary searches.

Local officials said that after the initial emergency and triage responses, the emergency personnel are now involved in the stabilization phase which will be followed by the recovery phase.

Schools in Springfield will be closed on Friday, Sarno said.

Tower Square is providing emergency office space for businesses, and MassMutual Financial Group is donating $100,000 in assistance, Sarno said.

American Medical Response is conducting well-being checks, he said.

State Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, D-Springfield, and city councilors praised the efforts by all agencies.

Council President Jose F. Tosado and Councilors Kateri B. Walsh and Timothy Allen, were planning an afternoon tour of the South End, among the hardest hit areas.

Tosado said he is ready to call a City Council special meeting if requested by Sarno for any needed transfer of funds.

The neighborhoods behind the Town Office Building, which also lost part of its roof, sustained the worst damage.

Photo by Elise Amendola / Associated PressShawn Menard, right, reaches to help homeowner Tony Esposito from atop the rubble of his home in Monson Thursday, one day after it was destroyed by a tornado. Esposito said no one was injured at his home. Residents of 19 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.

Monson School Committee Chairman Jeffrey D. Lord said the high school graduation ceremony has been canceled in the wake of the devastating tornadoes that hit parts of Western Massachusetts Wednesday.. It was supposed to be held Friday night and now has been postponed indefinitely.

The neighborhoods behind the Town Office Building, which also lost part of its roof, sustained the worst damage. Homes on State Street, Bethany Road and Stewart Avenue were heavily damaged and in some cases missing altogether.

Kim E. Slozak, of 6 Bethany Road, said she was home alone when her husband called her about the tornado. She grabbed her cat, dog and kitten and got into the bathtub in the bathroom. The sound, she said, “was like jet engines.“

“I compare this to Dorothy’s house’ from the movie, the “Wizard of Oz,” she said as she gestured to the lopsided house.

“I could feel the house moving. I’m so glad we’re OK,“ Slozak said.

Slozak said she got out of the house by crawling out the window. She said everyone in her family is OK, and that she also was able to salvage a lot of pictures. She said they had planned a graduation party for her daughter, Kelly. But now it will be a party to celebrate that they are all alive.

Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers walked through the Bethany neighborhood with Police Chief Stephen Kozloski Jr., and selectmen Edward A. Maia and Richard Smith. Neggers said she does not know where the town offices will relocate, as the building cannot be used now.

Kozloski said he has not heard of any life-threatening injuries. The officials estimated that up to 60 homes are not habitable.

“This is unbelievable,“ Neggers said as she surveyed the destruction.

Trees and debris filled Bethany Road, and the scene only got worse along Stewart Avenue, where house after house was crushed to the ground.

Russell Bressette Jr. of Stewart Avenue said he just finished his bus route, and was in the process of making something to eat when the tornado struck. He said he barely made it into the cellar in time, and held on to a pipe as his house went into the air.

All that is left now of the Cape-style house is a pile of rubble. An emotional Bressette said he just lost his wife Carole in December. He said he was able to salvage some photos of her.

“I lost her in December and now this,“ he said.

Bressette said the house was moved 30 feet from the foundation, on to his Lincoln Towncar.

“All I have left is memories,“ Bressette said.

“All I’m happy for is that I’m alive and I can live to tell about it,“ Bressette said.

Family members were sifting through the rubble of his home to look for his belongings.

Fellow bus driver Heather L. Emery of Monson walked up to Bressette in tears, and gave him a hug. She said the street was part of her bus route. She said she didn’t even get rain at her house in south Monson.

Laura Yarbrough was home with her 12-year-old son Joey when she heard about a ’tornado watch’ on the news. They were taking pictures on her porch and grabbed some of the hail, but when it got dark, they went inside. She and Joey got into the basement, but she couldn’t coax her dog Riley to go with them.

Nothing is left of the house, but Riley was rescued by firefighters from the rubble late Thursday morning.

“I still can’t believe we lived. He was screaming,“ she said of her son.

Her husband was at work, and her other son wasn’t home.

Anna Lin just moved into 15 Bethany Road in December. Her house also was destroyed.

Pia M. Rogers of 14 Bethany Road lost her barn in January due to heavy snow. Now the house is gone too. She found some stuffed animals and thought she spotted one of her sheets flying by in the wind.

“It could have been worse. We could have died,“ said Rogers, who wasn’t at home at the time.

She said she just replaced her two sons’ bicycles after the barn collapsed on them and will have to do it again. Rogers said the family will stay at her business, Sturbridge Coffee House in Sturbridge.

Many residents spent the morning walking around, surveying the damage and taking photographs. The Adams IGA supermarket had part of its roof off and damage to the front windows. The Unitarian Universalist Parish lost its steeple. Wires and trees littered roadways. Downtown Main Street had power lines down everywhere.

From Wales, there was no access point to Route 20. Route 19 was shut at Holland Road and access to Hollow Road also was blocked.

Two people lost their lives to the tornado as it ripped through the Merrick Section.

George Graham / The RepublicanWinds from a tornado blew this truck over at Latino Foods, 23 New Bridge St., West Springfield. James Vallides, owner of the business, said no employees were on the property when the tornado ripped through and destroyed the building

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Scores of people wandered through the Merrick Section of the city Thursday morning with dazed looks on their faces and stories of a fast-moving horror that came out of nowhere.

This neighborhood, where two people were killed, was hit especially hard. Much of Main Street remained closed to traffic Thursday morning and side streets were littered with tangles of fallen trees and wires.

West Springfield resident Angelica Guerrero, 40, took refuge in a bathtub and covered her 15 year-old daughter as the three-family home on Union Street collapsed around them. The house was leveled.

“There is no doubt she saved her daughter’s life,“ said West Springfield Police Chief Thomas E. Burke.

Sergey Livchin, 23, died in his parked car on a hill on Main Street. His passenger called emergency responders around 4:45 p.m. and Licvhin was pronounced dead at the scene. No cause of death has been determined.

The fierce winds pushed a three-family home at 83-85 Bridge St.off its foundation by three or four feet.

“My father saw something in the distance and knew what it was and told us to grab the kids,” said Tiffany Mansfield, who lived on the second floor with her husband and three children. “The house shook a little bit and the windows exploded, the walls were caving in.”

Mansfield and other family members were among the 50 or so Merrick residents who spent the night at an emergency shelter set up at West Springfield Middle School.

“My Mom’s floor is in the basement, the house is tilted, half the roof is off,” Mansfield said.

“It was bad, I was scared,” said Mansfield’s mother, Lillian Riggs, who also spent the night in the shelter.

George Graham / The RepublicanThe tornado that ripped through the Merrick Section of West Springfield blew this three-family home at 83-85 Bridge St. by some 3 or 4 feet. The 15 residents who lived here escaped serious injury.

What if she had not hit the bottom step into her basement at that precise moment?

Photo by Tom Rettig / Telegram & GazetteHouses and trees show damage after severe storms moved through Brimfield Wednesday.

BRIMFIELD - Cindy Travi looked at the mountain of rubble that used to be her post-and-beam home on Hollow Road and thought: what if?

What if she had not hit the bottom step into her basement at that precise moment? What if she had not spotted a chunk of concrete foundation to cling to as the funnel cloud swept through? What if her husband had been sitting in his favorite chair on the third floor?

“As much as I’m sad about my house, I can’t believe I’m alive. I really shouldn’t be here,“ said Travi, who along with her husband, Vincent, surveyed what was once their home on Thursday afternoon.

Travi said she had just planted a tomato bush outside when her mother-in-law called to warn her about tornadoes reported in Western Massachusetts.

“She screamed at me to get in the basement, and as soon as my foot hit the last step, the phone flew out of my hand and the house exploded,“ said Travi, who took cover behind her furnace until that, too, careened into the air and left her exposed. “I crawled toward this piece of cement and hung on. When I looked up I just saw sky and trees.“

It took her 20 minutes to crawl out after the tornado retreated, and she sat bewildered and bruised in the middle of the street along with many of her neighbors.

A small blessing: the couple has homeowners insurance. Brett Minney, owner of a trailer home just down the street, was not so lucky.

“I’ve been out of work. Money was tight and I couldn’t afford the insurance. This was all I had. I planned to live here for the rest of my life,“ said Minney, who was battered from head to toe after being whipped around by the tornado in his double-wide trailer Wednesday evening.

Like Travi, Minney said he was taken by surprise at the fury of the storm. And like his neighbor, he thought he wouldn’t survive it.

“It was just this nasty roaring sound ... I grabbed my cat and a blanket and hid in a closet. Within seconds I was up in the air flipping around and looking at broken trees,“ he said.

He and some friends and family members picked through the ruins on Thursday, salvaging what they could: shoes, clothes and other items.

Minney bemoaned his bad luck, while his stepmother, Barbara Minney, urged him to change his outlook.

“You came out alive. You were blessed, totally blessed,“ she said.

The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District has canceled classes for Friday.

Dave Roback / The RepublicanProm-goers attending the Minnechaug Regional prom at the MassMutual Center are shuffled inside by the Springfield Police.

WILBRAHAM - Minnechaug Regional High School’s commencement ceremonies will go on as planned Friday night at Springfield’s Symphony Hall.

Friday classes, however, within the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District have been canceled due to storm-related damage and power supply and utility problems, district officials said.

Superintendent of Schools M. Martin O’Shea and others decided to proceed with the graduation and cancel classes during an emergency meeting Thursday morning.

The ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. and school officials advise those attending to car pool and allow ample time for travel.

Minnechaug’s prom, meanwhile, was held Wednesday night at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield.

School officials said they toured all district buildings, including the new high school under construction, and found minimal damage.

“I was and remain extremely impressed by the district’s response to this natural disaster that caught us all by surprise yesterday,” said Scott R. Chapman, chairman of the district’s school committee.

More information regarding power restoration should be available later Thursday.

Photo by Lori Stabile. Damage from the June 1 tornado can be seen at Adams IGA supermarket in Monson.

MONSON - The president of National Grid, Massachusetts, said there are approximately 25,000 customers without power in Western Massachusetts, and that workers have been on the job non-stop to restore electricity after tornadoes swept into the region Wednesday night causing widespread devastation.

Marcy L. Reed said she will have more information about power restoration later this afternoon. The hardest hit communities are Brimfield, Holland, Wales, Monson, Hampden, Wilbraham, East Longmeadow and Sturbridge.

Reed, who was on Main Street in Monson Thursday afternoon, said there are also scattered outages elsewhere in the Pioneer Valley.

"We are rebuilding the system in many ways," Reed said.

She said 72 percent of Monson is without power. She said there are 760 crews working on power restoration in Western Massachusetts.

"Our hearts go out to everyone affected by these devastating storms, especially the families of the four people who lost their lives yesterday," Reed said.

She cautioned that people who are using generators should place them outside.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate toured Massachusetts on the same day that Romney announced his candidacy for president in New Hampshire

Associated Press photoFormer Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin poses for photos with a school group visiting the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston, Thursday.

BOSTON — Sarah Palin has said she's not trying to step on Mitt Romney's political toes as she visited Revolutionary War sites in Boston before heading to New Hampshire.

Palin's latest stop on her tour of historic sites came on Thursday, the same day the former Republican Massachusetts governor officially announced his White House bid in New Hampshire.

Palin said if she thought Romney would be offended by the timing and proximity of her visits, she would have canceled them.

Palin toured the Old North Church and the Paul Revere House in Boston's North End neighborhood before stopping by the Bunker Hill Monument in the city's Charlestown section, which memorializes a battle between American colonists and British forces in June 1775.

Palin said her trip was not intended to be a prelude to a presidential run.