This amazing NASA image of the track of the tornado that ripped through Massachusetts on June 1, 2011. I've put a small red dot approximately where I was that day.
Because we had been watching TV, we saw the warnings about an hour ahead of time. This is Massachusetts, we don't have tornado sirens. After seeing a lot of the damage, it is truly amazing that only 3 people were killed.
We were skirted by the tornado, blessed to have no real damage. The hail was golf ball size at our house. Just a block away, they saw tennis ball size hail. The hood of our van was left with a few indentations and the tarp we have up to shade our deck was absolutely shredded.
Parts of our yard looked as if it had snowed. These pictures are nearly half an hour after the storm went through.
I couldn't believe that my garden gazing ball survived those balls of ice that flew out of the sky.
The following pictures were taken by my sweet hubby on June 2.
This is the grocery store in the neighboring town of Monson.
The house in this photo was shifted right off of its foundation.
This building lost the roof and many sections of the walls.
These photos were taken in the neighboring town of Brimfield.
A young woman driving home to Monson from college heard the tornado warnings on the radio. Hearing that the path of the storm was following I-90, the highway she was on, she decided to exit the highway and take Rt. 20 the rest of the way home. Unfortunately she ended up right in the tornado as she drove through Brimfield. Traffic had stopped ahead of her and power lines fell onto her car, setting it on fire. She reluctantly got out of the car and ran to a woman in a nearby vehicle. This woman took her back into Monson but the main road was impassable. The young woman walked through the damage until a family member picked her up and brought her home. I saw her story on the morning news the following day. When hubby showed me this picture of a burned out car on Rt. 20 I knew it must be hers.