Police are asking everyone to stay home.
The tornado has have been spotted in Springfield, Westfield, Agawam, Wilbraham, Monson and West Springfield. The Republican will continually update on the damage the storm is causing.
4:35 p.m.Springfield Republican reporter saw and head a funnel cloud pulling up trash and other debris on Liberty Street. It was coming over Interstate 91 and headed over the river. It spun around by the bus station and headed down Main Street to downtown.
4:45 p.m. Springfield Police report heavy depris at Oakland and Allen Streets.
4:50 p.m.Police are encouraging people to stay home. Traffic is very heavy.
4:51 p.m. Police believe the tornado touched down in the downtown section. With most of the from State Street to Mill Street power lines are on the vehicle.
4:52 p.m. Tornado is heading to East Longmeadow.
4:53: p.m. There are reports of a house damaged. No information about where the location is.
4:53 p.m. Police are reporting multiple buildings are damaged on Maple Street.
4:54 p.m. Power lines are down around the area of Maple and Bridge Streets.
4:55 p.m. Tree fell through a house at 81 Federal Street extension. Police are also reporting trees are down all around Parker Street.
4:59: p.m. Police are looking for a 15-year-old girl in pink shorts. There is no information on whether she has been injured.
5 p.m. Woman is trapped in a house at 124 Arcaida Boulevard, Springfield police said.
5:01 p.m. There is an overturned car at Milton Bradley School in Springfield with people inside.
506 p.m. At least four trees are in front of City hall in Springfield. They are blocking traffic at State in front of the Civic Center.
5:10 p.m. Police are setting up an evacuation center at the MassMutual Center.
5:11 p.m. Police are forming groups of six and will start walking through neighborhoods the see if anyone has hurt.
5:11 p.m. Wilbraham police are reporting multiple structures damaged. They are requesting mutual assistance from Bondsville.
5:12 p.m. Police are reporting that McDuffie School on Maple Street has been evacuated.
5:12 p.m. Multiple buildings are down in the Merrick section of West Springfield, according to fire officials.
5:13 p.m. Police are reporting a strong odor of gas on Dale Street in the South End of the city.
5:13 p.m. Police are reporting an overturned tractor trailer truck on Riverside Road. The driver appears to be out of the vehicle but police are reporting he is injured.
5:14 p.m. Wilbraham is reporting a building struck in the south side of damage. Wind damage only is reported in Hampden.
5:14 p.m. Car crushed by a tree on the corner of Island Pond and Allen Street in Springfield.
5:15 p.m. Police are calling for all "all hands on deck" in Springfield.
5:16 p.m. A resident is reporting there damage to Cathedral High School, on Surrey Road and because of the damage people can see inside some of the classrooms.
5:20 p.m. Four poles are down on upper Tinkham Road. Police said the neighborhood is "just demolished."
5:21 p.m. In Wilbraham there are reports of trees down on Stony Hill Road and Main Street.
5:23 p.m. Cambria and Chesterfield in East Forest Park some of the houses are totally demolished.
5:25 p.m. There is a report of a tornado touchdown in Monson.
5:26 p.m. A gas leak is reported at the Mount Carmel Social Club on Winthrop and Main Streets. The gas is pouring out, according to police.
5:27 p.m. 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."
5:33 p.m. Most of the streets in North Agawam are blocked to some degree and there are a number of trees on wires.
5:34: Wilbraham officials are reporting trees down on South Maple, Echo Hill Road and Brookside Circle. The streets are not drivable.
5:37 p.m. A disaster task force is staging a relief center at West Springfield Fire Department.
5:39 p.m. Western Massachusetts is reponding to 367 Central Street. There are a lot of wires down in the street.
5:41 p.m. Springfield police are reporting Belmont and Dickinson Streets are relatively clear.
5:42 p.m.Reporter Patrick Johnson is at the corner of Central and Maple streets and said three of four access points are completely blocked. Two enormous downed trees are lying across Central Street.
One of the buildings from McDuffie School at the corner of Maple and Central streets has been damaged. The roof is heavily damaged, an iron fence in front of it is completly twisted. A tree has fallen in front of the building.
Police are also doing a house-to-house search to make sure no one has been injured.
5:50 p.m. Springfield Police have checked house from Plumtree to the Veterans Golf Course and have found no injuries.
5:30 p.m. 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.
5:53 p.m. National Weather Service is announcing the possibility of another tornado in the next 10 minutes in the Springfield area. People are being warned to take shelter in the MassMutual Center, the downtown parking garage or any other place that looks safe.
5:56 p.m. A spokesman from the Springfield Catholic Diocese said Cathedral High School was hit by the storm and sustained damage. Students were safe inside the building when the storm hit and blew out a number of windows. A planned event at the school is canceled.
5:59 p.m. Deputy Springfield Police Chief Robert Macfarlane said, “No one is going south of State Street or north of Central because of multiple building collapses and gas leaks.”
Police were ushering people out of the area. Dozens of vehicles were damaged in the parking lot of the First Spiritualist Church on Bliss Street in Springfield’s South End. Some had obvious structural damage; most vehicles have broken shattered windshields.
Bliss Street was blocked by a fallen tree. Despite the circumstances, a number of people were light-heartedly showing off the damage
6:01 p.m. In Court Square in Springfield Jason Rodrigues, employee of the Cafe Lebanon, said the restaurant’s 60-pound concrete patio tables were smashed into pieces after being tossed into the air by the force of the storm. Concrete flower pots, each weighing 30 to 40 pounds were also tossed into air.
The restaurants and many other businesses in the downtown were closed. Businesses that remained open were largely empty, and workes are milling outside the storefronts.
Rick Paiva, who described himself as an advocate for the homeless, predicts that homelesss shelters will be packed because people won’t feel safe on the street. He was outside the Peter Pan bus station when the tornado touched down. “I saw debris flying all over ... the funnel scared be a little.”
6:04 p.m. Reporter Jim Kinney in the South End said windows were blown out and roofs ripped off everywhere. Damaged structures include South End Community Center, Red Rose Pizzeria, and the former Zanetti School.
Frantic parents coming to the South End center, where part of the roof was gone, were directed to the MassMutual Center where people were being evacuated.
Sandra Blaney said she had just left work and was in her car on Bliss Street when she saw trees snap. “I just closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see what happened."
She felt the glass hit her as her windows blew out. When she opened her eyes, she saw the devastation. Blaney said She suffered minor cuts.
She said she was working in lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001. “It reminded me of that horrible day.”
6:08 p.m. Police are setting up a triage center for non life-threatening injuries at Dunkin Donuts at Main and Central streets.
6:09 p.m. Jane Albert of Baystate Medical Center in Springfield said there are people coming in injured by the tornado. There are high velocity wounds caused by trees and other debris.
"We have the walking wounded coming in on their own and others being brought in by ambulance," she said.
There are serious injuries. Surgeons are there and have set up more trauma rooms. Patients may be transferred to other hospitals if Baystate gets overwhelmed.
6:12 p.m. Janice Kucewicz of Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer said they had not received any injuries yet but are preparing for possible injuries, especially from Monson. Both hospitals moved patients away from windows and into hallways prior to the tornado.
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