Six of the nine recovery centers, operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, were open as of Monday and the remaining three are scheduled to open Tuesday morning.
On the right side of the table, Sandra M. Foley, a rapid response business service representative with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and Staci L. Johnson, right, claims agent in that office, help business owners affected by the June 1 tornado Monday at the Federal and Massachusetts Emergency Management Agencies disaster recovery center at the Sturbridge Public Safety Complex.SPRINGFIELD – Dean M. Wright of West Springfield stopped in at the West Side municipal office building on Monday to see what could be done about his now-immobile car and his two flying air conditioners.
His 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix, his family’s sole vehicle, was crushed by a falling tree at his 35 Merrick St. residence during the June 1 tornado.
The two air conditioners were simply sucked out of the windows.
“Nobody thought there would be a tornado in West Springfield,” he said.
Wright was one of dozens of people throughout Hampden County suffering some kind of loss in the tornado who stopped in at various Disaster Recovery Centers in Hampden and Worcester counties.
Six of the nine recovery centers, operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, were open as of Monday and the remaining three are scheduled to open by Tuesday morning.
The Springfield and West Springfield locations opened on Saturday, followed by Agawam, Brimfield, Sturbridge, and Wilbraham on Monday.
Facilities in Monson, Southbridge and Westfield are scheduled to open Tuesday.
The nine centers, each in a community affected by the storm, will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. until further notice.
The most recent figure provided by FEMA has 1,226 people registering for relief assistance over the FEMA website, its toll-free number or by stopping in at the centers, said Jeb Killion, FEMA spokesman.
At West Springfield, 19 people including Wright stopped in on Monday, on top of another 23 who showed up over the weekend.
In Brimfield, 15 families and businesses stopped in on Monday, that recovery center’s first day.
Seven applicants had visited the Disaster Recovery Center that opened Monday at the Blake Middle School at Wilbraham & Monson Academy.
“We’re sharing equipment to get the job done,” said Robert Haley, manager of the Disaster Recovery Center at 20 Faculty Street in Wilbraham.
In Agawam, staff saw just one person stopping in on the first day of the center at 1002 Suffield St.
Manager Eva Packer attributed the poor response to lack of publicity about it.
Westfield’s center opened Monday afternoon at Munger Hill Elementary School. Turnout figures for that location were not available, but center manager Magaly Morales said it will operate every day until no longer needed.
“Because this center is located in a school, everyone knows where we are.” Morales said. We will remain here as long as residents require our assistance.”
The centers are an offshoot of the federal disaster declaration made last week for the region. The declaration, signed by President Barack Obama, allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to respond to the scene and coordinate the relief and rebuilding efforts between Westfield and Stockbridge.
According to the most recent figures provided by the state Division of Insurance, there have been 8,200 insurance claims filed totaling $140 million in damage.
The centers provide people information from various federal and state agencies about receiving federal assistance, direct aid and other services, including the federal Small Business Administration, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, the Internal Revenue Service and social service agencies affiliated with the United Way.
Donna L. Rowe, a counselor with the Behavioral Health Network, said she talked to eight people during a three-hour period Monday in West Springfield.
Some people are concerned that they still fell anxious and have trouble sleeping, although the tornado was nearly three weeks ago.
“We are reassuring them that what they feel is normal,” Rowe said.
Michael E. Walsh, a customer service representative from the Small Business Administration, said he had talked to 25 people since the West Springfield office opened Saturday about low-interest loans for homeowners, renters and businesses.
Karen Pollock, manager for the Brimfield recovery center said a staff of 10 is working at the center helping people who lost their homes, jobs or businesses to the tornado.
Pollock said FEMA can pay rent for eligible families for up to two months and there is a possibility that time limit could be extended. There are also loans for businesses and homeowners, Pollock said.
In other developments Monday, the state House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate voted final approval to a bill that includes $15 million to pay for costs of state agencies responding to the tornadoes. The bill was sent to the governor, who had filed the bill two weeks ago and is expected to sign it.
The $15 million would pay for overtime and other tornado-related costs of state agencies such as the State Police, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and the National Guard.
The bill also speeds the process of cities and towns borrowing money for emergency purposes, and allow communities to provide property tax relief to property owners affected by the tornadoes. Property taxes for the fiscal year that starts July 1 would be based on the damaged condition of the properties.
Gov. Deval L. Patrick will be joined today in Springfield by Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray and Gregory Bialecki, the state’s housing and economic development secretary, during a public forum on rebuilding efforts following the tornadoes.
The event will be held at 3:00 p.m. at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.
At the event, Patrick and Bialecki will sit with a cross section of leaders in business, public safety, housing, community development, planning, tourism and other fields.
The forum is intended to focus on ways government can leverage opportunities that have arisen from the storm and rebuild neighborhoods stronger than before, said Kimberly Haberlin, communications director for the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.
The program will include remarks from the Springfield mayor, the governor and lieutenant governor as well as reports from various leaders about the status of transportation networks, school buildings and other infrastructure, rebuilding plans, small business impacts and other storm related issues, Haberlin said.
The latter half of the meeting will be devoted to a group sessions focusing on ways to rebuild housing, expand entrepreneurship, involve the local workforce, strengthen key
community institutions and other issues, she said.
Meanwhile, two interns working this summer with Patrick’s Western Massachusetts office have been doing more than answering phones and filing papers.
View full sizeTwo interns in the governor's Western Massachusetts office, Orlando Cordero, left, and Mariya Holembiyevskyy, on the right, stand next to Gov. Deval L. Patrick at the Statehouse on Monday. Patrick recognized the two interns for their work in the wake of the June 1 tornadoes.Interns Mariya K. Holembiyevskyy, of Monson and Orlando Cordero, 20, of Springfield, have been going through tornado-ravaged parts of Springfield and West Springfield, passing out fliers and knocking on doors to reach people who needed help and information
“It wasn’t what we were expecting,” said Cordero.
Holembiyevskyy, a senior this fall at Smith College in Northampton, translated documents into her native Russian to provide information to non-English-speaking Russian immigrants in affected neighborhoods of West Springfield and at the Russian Pentecostal Church of Hope in West Springfield.
A 2008 graduate of Monson High School, Holembiyevskyy said she emigrated to the U.S. when she was 2 and grew up in a family that spoke Russian.
Cordero, a 2008 graduate of Springfield Central High School and a senior this fall at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, also did a lot of canvassing near downtown West Springfield, where he took information from people in need of utilities and other assistance.
He said he was shocked to see the destruction in parts of Springfield.
“A lot of homes were condemned and some houses incredibly weren’t even there,” Cordero said.
Several events are planned in the upcoming days centered on rebuilding the communities and tending to the piece of mind of communities damaged by the tornado.
West Springfield’s First Congregational Church, 20 Lathrop St., has scheduled a special prayer service beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday and a community supper to follow at 6:45 p.m.
Doors to the church open at 5 p.m.
Damaged light aircraft line the taxiway at the Southbridge Municipal Airport Monday, the remnants of the June 1 tornado.Organizers say the service will be a time for prayer, reflection, rebuilding through meditation, and singing. Donations will be accepted to aid tornado relief.
Parking for the event will be at the Senior Center next door to the church on 128 Park Street.
Also on Tuesday, representatives of the New England Patriots and the United Way are expected in Springfield morning to announce the kick off of a fundraising campaign for tornado relief.
The announcement is planned for 12:15 p.m. at Springfield College’s Stagg Field on Alden Street.
The family of Patriots owner Robert Kraft and the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation is pledging a dollar-for-dollar matching grant of up to $100,000 in matching funds for money donated to the United Way and Mass 2-1-1.
Funds will be assigned to the Massachusetts Statewide Disaster Relief Fund, with 100 percent ofdonations directed towards helping those in need. Donations can be made by dialing 2-1-1, or via their website at http://www.unitedwaytri-county.org/disaster
Retired Patriots great Andre Tippett and current player and Springfield native Ron Brace are scheduled to be on hand for the announcement, along with United Way of Pioneer Valley President Dora Robinson.
On Friday, the New England Patriots Alumni Association will bring their ‘Football for You’ free youth football clinic to Springfield College.
On Wednesday, victims of the tornadoes can receive free legal advice from attorneys through the Disaster Relief Dial-A-Lawyer program.
The program is offered by the Hampden County Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association and Western New England School of Law.
Massachusetts residents facing legal issues due to the tornadoes can call volunteer attorneys for legal advice from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Disaster Relief Dial-A-Lawyer phone number is (413) 782-1659. Callers getting a busy signal are asked to hang up and try again.
Normal telephone charges will apply.
Republican reporters Dan Ring, Sandra Constantine, Suzanne McLaughlin, John Appleton, Lori Stabile and Ted Laborde contributed to this report.