The church on Maple Street was shelter for men, women and children ordered off the street by police.
SPRINGFIELD – Yvette Whiting 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 Wednesday, 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.
“(Lofland) called me from the bus station and said it was coming our way. As soon as I hung up, I saw two boys running, and then I laid down on the floor with my grandson to protect him. He’s six. The wind was just blowing real hard,” Whiting said.
Her grandson, Asaivion Whiting, pointed to a bandage on his heel to show a bruise he had suffered.
“I was scared,” said Asaivion, who was among those looking outside the church door as rain poured down.
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.
City and state police officers arrived steadily for more than an hour. Cruisers and other public safety vehicles lined the roads and parked at angles on the median with lights flashing.
“It’s a disaster,” Springfield Police Sgt. John Delaney said.
All off-duty city police officers and firefighters were ordered to report to 50 Maple St., he said.
“We’re assessing the damage,” Fire Department spokesman Dennis Leger said.
Thousands of trees were down around the city. Especially hard hit were East Forest Park, which had lost electricity, Maple Street and Sixteen Acres, he said.
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.”
“Crazy, yo?” said a man running by the church.
Shalawnda Carr is the secretary at South Congregational Church. She 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.
The church is 160 years old and has a membership of 300, said Carr, who was unsure how long Wednesday night the basement would serve as refuge.
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 Marreros 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.
A light pole outside toppled over and just missed his third-floor window, he 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,” Marrero said.