What to Know
- An EF-1 tornado from Dudley to Webster, Mass. was reported at 110 mph on Saturday.
- The tornado caused extensive damage in Webster, specifically on Main Street.
- Many businesses were damaged, and the clean-up is just beginning; two buildings have already been demolished.
The clean-up continued Sunday in Webster, Massachusetts following a tornado that touched down in the town on Saturday.
The damage is mostly centralized to a two-block radius on Main Street, where windows have been borded up and shredded trees are being hauled away.
Two buildings have been knocked down, and two more may be next pending a decision from the building inspector.
While there is still a long way to go in cleaning up the damage, the tornado seems to have made a lasting impact on those it impacted.
Many are still feeling a sense of disbelief that a tornado hit their tiny town.
"Today we started at I wanna say 9:30-10:00 and we finished about an hour ago. I'm not actually sure what time it is," said Shane Binette.
U.S. & World
It was pretty much a full day of work for Binette, who said it was all unpaid.
"Just being a nice citizen helping out the rest of the people on this street," he said. "They'd do the same."
Kristen St. Laurent, who owns the Dancer's Sole on Main Street in Webster, says while her dance studio suffered a lot of damage and she's feeling frazzled, they'll pull through.
"We're exhausted and I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything, but we'll pull through it and we can't thank everyone enough for their support."
A number of Webster businesses were hit, including an alcohol store where the owner says they have lost thousands of dollars in beer since their coolers are down. While Webster Wine and Liquor looks unscathed from the storefront, if you go around the back, a utility pole on top of a car tells a different story. The store is out of power, and it won’t be opening until further notice.
"It's not good for business," owner Lori Curtis said. "There’s no structural damage but beer coolers are down. That's thousands of dollars of beer we can’t sell."
Bill Staikos, owner of a pizza parlor, on Main Street, said he's opening up a day after the tornado. He cleaned up debris in his parking lot Sunday morning, and has someone coming to fix a small cosmetic issue: the sign on their roof toppled over.
"It's fixable. Nobody got hurt, that’s the most important part," Staikos said. "That’s the way I see it,"
Only one person was injured on Saturday, but 32 people are left without a home.
"Those people down here, they have it the worse because they had to evacuate," Staikos said.
Main Street features a huge pile of rubble. Not far, the Dancer's Sole windows are blown out and they have a hole in their ceiling. The Lobster Nook's sign ended up across the street.
"Amazing that this happened in five minutes, so many people are displaced," Curtis said.
