Monday marked 15 years since a powerful EF-3 tornado ripped through Hampden County. Three people were killed. A couple of hundred were injured.
The storm of June 1, 2011, caused tremendous damage in the city of Springfield. Buildings and homes were leveled. The losses were in the tens of millions of dollars.
NEPM’s Adam Frenier spoke with Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and asked him about the significance of this anniversary.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno: Usually with the anniversaries, instead you're celebrating things here, not whatsoever. We're marking it. What we celebrate is the resiliency of the the people and businesses and my city team and all the other assistance I received from the state and federal level. Because you look back, we come back bigger, better and stronger.
Adam Frenier, NEPM: Looking back at that day. Sarno said the timing of the storm hitting at 4:38 in the afternoon was somewhat fortunate.
If this thing had hit at 2:38 in the morning, there would have been no warning at all. There would have been even more devastation. If it hit at 2:38 in the afternoon, the kids, including my kids, would have all have been in school at that point in time. So, we didn't have any deaths in the city of Springfield. Unfortunately, there were three in western Massachusetts. We had about, I'd say 36, 38 serious injuries that occurred.
The storm heavily damaged the South End in downtown Springfield before taking aim at the East Forest Park neighborhood. Sarno had keen memories of surveying the damage.
The cops are saying, 'Hey, Dom, hey Sarno, mayor, you gotta walk down to the South End area.' And our utilities downtown are underground. It was surreal, Twilight Zone, the old show. Buildings were shredded, shredded, yet lights were on, TVs were on, radios were on.
And then they told me, and I'm Springfield born and bred and proud. They said, you will not recognize East Forest Park. So, I went home maybe for an hour or so checking on the family and freshen up and we headed out and got to East Forest Park very early in the morning and it was unrecognizable. And you hit Allen Street and and then get on Island Pond Road, and then all the tributary streets there. Utter devastation.
And once the immediate recovery efforts were underway, Sarno says the focus then turned to the long-term process, and assistance at both the state and federal levels was key in bringing Springfield back.
I mean, schools had to be rebuilt. My beloved old South End Community Center was devastated. All the housing has come back. Businesses have come back and infrastructure was repaired, you know, and then the majority of people wanted to stay in businesses wanted to stay. So, you know, I'm pleased with it.
A few days after the tornado, Sarno says he was touring the damage with then Governor Deval Patrick.
And he said to me, 'Dom, I know there's a lot of storm clouds in the sky right now, but you're going to see that the sun is going to come out for you again. And, and you're going to be able to rebuild. You might not see it now, but you're going to able to rebuild the city.' And, and we did.
On Monday at 4:38 p.m. a moment of reflection in Springfield is slated to be held to commemorate 15 years since the tornado hit.
