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