'Never seen a rotation like that': North Brookfield fire chief marvels at tornado's power
NORTH BROOKFIELD — Fire Chief Joseph Holway knew right away that a tornado had touched down in North Brookfield.
Holway recounted the experience Tuesday morning, one day after the National Weather Service confirmed a weak-level tornado, classified as EF-0, in this small town of 4,700 residents located west of Worcester.
The chief was on his way to responding to flooded streets caused by heavy rainstorms Sunday, when he looked up and saw the tops of trees swirling in a counterclockwise direction.
“In my over 30 years, I’ve never seen a rotation like that,” said Holway, referring to his decades working on the town's firefighter force. “I called (emergency) dispatch to let them know we had the formations of a tornado.”
Holway heard from residents who experienced the tornado's power including garage doors at an auto body shop that were pushed in and a cast iron bench picked up and hurled away on Hillsville Road. Others witnessed trees explode.
“We lucked out,” said Holway, because no injuries were reported. Trees and power lines came down, with Ryan Road taking the brunt of the damage.
An EF-0 has winds speeds that reach 65 to 85 miles per hour. Sunday's tornado had maximum winds of 80 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service. The twister lasted three minutes – from 10:56 to 10:59 a.m. – and was 2-miles long and 250-yards wide.
'Not unusual'
Meteorologist Alan Dunham at the National Weather Service wasn't surprised because he said Southern New England gets two to three small tornadoes yearly.
“It’s not unusual,” said Dunham. “Once in a while we get one that is fairly large, like an EF-3 (wind speeds of 136 to 165 miles per hour). Southern New England is not lacking for having tornadoes.”
Prior to Sunday, the last tornado in Massachusetts touched down in Dennis Sept. 1, 2021, a remnant of Hurricane Ida. It lasted for less than a minute, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and was classified as an EF-0.
One of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history happened in Worcester June 9, 1953. The so-called Great Worcester Tornado left a tremendous path of destruction: 94 killed, 1,288 injured, 10,000 people left homeless, 4,000 buildings leveled and $52 million in damages (nearly $600 million, adjusted for inflation).
Sewage overflow in Worcester
The aftereffects of Sunday’s flooding were still felt in North Brookfield Monday, as crews pumped out basements.
In Worcester, heavy rains sent treated and untreated sewage into the Blackstone River, according to a city spokesman. The city did not respond to a request for the total number of gallons discharged into the Blackstone. A city notification said the estimated volume based on a three-year history is 9.7 million gallons.
A sewage treatment facility behind the Walmart Superstore on Tobias Boland Way reached capacity and sent treated sewage into the river at 6:48 a.m. Sunday.
The flow stopped around 8 a.m. and started again at 11:38 a.m. when heavy rains returned to the area. That flow of untreated sewage was due to an interruption of chemical treatment and continued for more than six hours until 6 p.m. Gates at the treatment facility were closed and flows were sent to the Upper Blackstone Clean Water treatment plant.
Besides Worcester, areas potentially impacted by the overflow include Millbury, Sutton and Grafton. Residents are advised to avoid contact with the affected water bodies for 48 hours after the overflow stopped due to increased health risks from bacteria and other pollutants.
Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter: @henrytelegram.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Tornado in North Brookfield; sewer overflow in Worcester
