Weymouth

Cleanup underway in Mass. after Friday's tornadoes

Weymouth residents say the tornado miraculously missed most of the homes in the area and a lot of the brush has been cleaned up so far.

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Cleanup crews are still working in parts of Massachusetts after it was confirmed that three tornadoes had touched down in the Bay State during Friday's storms.

Weymouth is one of four towns across the state that got hit by a tornado in this storm, with the National Weather Service confirming an EF-1 touched down there. Another was confirmed in North Attleboro and Mansfield, and an EF-0 touched down in Stoughton.

The storms cut out power, caused flooding and left behind major damage across the state, especially in the area of Park Avenue in Weymouth. The tornado touched down near the intersection of Pleasant and Torrey streets, then lifted near a water tower at the end of Lockewoods Drive.

With winds topping 110 miles an hour, the tornado uprooted trees and tore twenty shingles from a roof. Debris fell on front porches. Trees crashed through vehicles parked in driveways. Toppled trees covered backyards.

But other than that, it miraculously missed most of the homes in the neighborhood.

Weymouth is one of three places across the state to get hit by a tornado during these storms, with the national weather service confirming an EF-1 touched down there.

From inside one home on Torrey Street, Corin Proctor was woken up out of her sleep by a tornado warning on her phone. She went back to sleep, then heard the tornado outside her house.

“I started to hear the wind out the window and then I saw the whole tree outside the window come down and it kind of just looked like I was in it. Like the funnel of wind. I was kind of just panicking," Proctor said. "It just sounded like trees where coming down inside the house and I don’t know I feel like everyone says it feels like trains coming by and it was that loud.”

“When I looked out I could see sparks coming from the electrical lines and I was like, 'oh my gosh' cause that’s what you see in the movies.” said Brenda Gallagher.

Crews started cleaning up limbs Friday. Tree and power crews remained in the area Saturday to clear damage and restore service.

“Our chimney is gone, our gutters are gone. It just looks like a war zone in our yard,” one Weymouth resident said. "This is Massachusetts, we don't get tornadoes!"

“I looked outside. Everything was down. All our trees were down. Our stove was down. Some of our furniture outside's broken,” said Sarah Putnam.

“People are lucky they're alive," one man said. "It’s crazy.”

No injuries have been reported.

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