In Springfield, Wilbraham, Monson, Brimfield and elsewhere, elected officials, emergency responders and ordinary people reached out to help others.
It took only a hour and 10 minutes for the June 1 tornado to weave its 39-mile path of destruction across Western Massachusetts, but it will take days, weeks, months, years – and even decades – for devastated neighborhoods to return to some sense of normalcy.
As residents of the region begin the long road to recovery from the shock and trauma the twister left in its wake, there is strength to draw on – and reason to hope.
Official response to the disaster was swift, orderly and compassionate.
Just hours after the tornado ran its furious west-to-east course, Gov. Deval L. Patrick, flanked by Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry and other state leaders, joined Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno at a late-night press conference at the city’s Emergency Preparedness Center on Carew Street to assure residents of Western Massachusetts that help was on the way – and that the aid would continue until the job of rebuilding was done.
Patrick immediately activated 1,000 members of the National Guard to help local safety workers reach victims of the storm.
The MassMutual Center – just blocks north of where the tornado devastated parts of the South End – opened its doors as a shelter and is continuing to provide care for the newly homeless.
Springfield Police Commissioner William Fitchet assured residents that his officers were working with state police to keep the streets safe. “The city has its arms around this crisis,” Fitchet said. “Police have orders to do house-by-house searches to make sure people are safe.”
Fitchet was good as his word. His officers, assisted by state police, went well beyond the call of duty as they helped their fellow citizens cope power outages and the new and frightening surroundings that greeted them the morning after the storm.
Where there were homes, there were only foundations and where there were tree-lined streets, there were barren landscapes.
A week after the storm, there were insurance claims for 5,000 homes and a tally of about $90 million which is sure to grow.
Help came from many quarters.
Police and firefighters from units across the state – and from across state borders (one fire truck from Buffalo, N.Y. was spotted) – deployed personnel to the disaster sites, helping people secure damaged homes and clear downed tree trunks and branches. Utility officials from Western Mass. Electric Co. and Columbia Gas and other companies were also quick to respond.
The Red Cross, the Massachusetts Emergency Management System and the Federal Emergency Management System activated volunteers and emergency preparedness plans to help bring order out of chaos.
And ordinary people from Springfield to Wilbraham to Monson and Brimfield reached out to care for their neighbors providing comfort in the form of food, clothes, shelter and sympathy. For the helpers, there was a sense of “there but for the grace of God.” And for those who barely survived the storm’s wrath, there was a deep sense of gratitude to be alive.
It only took an instant to irrevocably change the lives – and sense of security – of thousands of people in Western Massachusetts. It’s going to take a long time to recover from a blow like this. But we will recover if we continue to work together for the good of all.