Early Thursday morning Justin Encarnacion was perched on the end of his cot at the MassMutual Center, his temporary home a few hours after a tornado ripped off the roof of his fourth-floor apartment on Central Street.
His 2-year-old daughter slept peacefully nearby, as Encarnacion contemplated his situation.
"The roof was off, but my apartment wasn’t even that dirty," he said. He did, however, find a branch and cinder block strewn about his home.
When the storm hit, Encarnacion was at his mother’s house on Carew Street where his family was celebrating his 21st birthday which had fallen on Tuesday. The first indication of trouble came when his downstairs neighbor called his girlfriend. The neighbor had just seen a funnel cloud coming toward their apartment.
Still, Encarnacion wasn’t worried. "I thought it was just a crazy thunderstorm," he said.
It was anything but. The downstairs neighbor took cover in a closet with her two sons, Encarnacion said. She heard glass breaking – lots of glass breaking. The bathroom ceiling of her apartment fell in.
Justin Encarnacion and his family were not alone after a pair of devastating tornadoes that tore through the region Wednesday afternoon.
Rick Lee, director of the American Red Cross Pioneer Valley Chapter, said 500 people had registered to stay at the MassMutual Center, which had been made into a temporary shelter Wednesday night. About 100 of those people had damaged homes, and the rest were fearful about gas leaks near their homes.
Gov. Deval Patrick said four people were confirmed dead as of early Thursday morning – two in Westfield, and one each in West Springfield and Brimfield. Authorities said numerous people were being treated for injuries at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.
Patrick declared a state of emergency and announced that 1,000 National Guards troops would help assist relief efforts.
"In the 15 years I’ve been in this job this looks to be the worst disaster I’ve had to deal with," Lee said. "I’ve been 27 years in Red Cross. The only thing that comes close to this for me was the 1987 chlorine fire in Springfield where we had to evacuate 25,000 people. But of course we don’t have as much devastation as we have here."
Evidence of the storm was everywhere in downtown Springfield. Motorists were forced to navigate fallen tree limbs along Hall of Fame Avenue, and the same was true on sections of State Street. Early on Thursday, Main Street was closed because of a reported gas leak.
Patrick wandered among the cots of the people being sheltered at the MassMutual Center early Thursday, consoling the displaced. At that hour the governor had just finished the last of three press conferences in response to the storm – one in Boston, another in Framingham and the third in Springfield at 11 p.m. Wednesday.
"If you talk to some of this people, they’re scared," Patrick said in an interview after visiting with some of the storm victims.
"They tell stories of narrowly escaping much more serious consequences," he added. "I talked to maybe a half-dozen folks who have nothing, their houses have been completely destroyed. One woman, just saying that out loud, it just brought her to tears."
Federal, state and local officials rushed to get resources to the 19 communities throughout central and western Massachusetts where the storm damage was heaviest.
During the press conference in Springfield, Patrick promised the full resources of the state. "I’m not thinking about money right now," he said. "I’m thinking peoples’ lives, safety, security. That’s my job right now. We’ll sort out the money when the time comes."
U.S. Sen. John Kerry, who also spoke at the late-night press conference, said federal officials had already begun the process of assessing the damage in order to determine whether Springfield qualifies for federal funds to help pay for the cleanup costs. He said such a decision would likely be made in a "matter of weeks."
"With the kind of damage I am hearing about, it’s hard to imagine there won’t be some kind of federal assistance," Kerry said.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said his city would rebound. "I give you my word, the city of Springfield is resolute and we will continue to move forward, rebuilding the city," he said.
Back at the MassMutual Center, Lee was trying to determine where the displaced could be sheltered in a few short hours. He said breakfast would be served at 7 a.m., after which a new shelter would have to be found due to a previous scheduling commitment at the MassMutual Center.
Encarnacion was uncertain about what Thursday would bring for him and his daughter. "I don’t know where we’re going to go," he said. (AP)
