Massachusetts

Cleanup Underway After 2 Tornadoes Touch Down in Worcester County

Four towns in the central part of the state were impacted

What to Know

  • National Weather Service confirmed two EF-1 tornadoes hit Worcester County in Massachusetts overnight Thursday
  • The first one tracked from Douglas to Uxbridge to Northbridge; second one was in Upton
  • No one was injured by the tornadoes

The cleanup is well underway after two EF-1 tornadoes touched down in Worcester County in Massachusetts overnight Thursday.

National Weather Service officials confirmed the first one started in Douglas, touching down south of Maple Street. It headed northeast, crossing Route 146 and moving into to Uxbridge, then Northbridge. It traveled about 4.4 miles with a maximum width of 200 yards before lifting back up near the Northbridge Middle School.

The second tornado touched down on Hartford Avenue in Upton. It lasted only a mile, crossing Route 140 and passing into Upton State Forest. It had a maximum width of 100 yards.

Both tornadoes reached a maximum wind speed of 100 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Most of the damage in all four towns was limited to trees, with many of them exhibiting signs of being twisted by the wind gusts.

“It was like a noise I never heard before,” said Jennifer Bolton, an Upton resident. “We could hear things hitting the house, it was such a violent storm.”

Bolton and her daughter Lily were asleep when they were woken up by the storm and the countless trees that were coming down in their neighborhood.

“I came to the front of the house and all of the trees are completely uprooted,” said Lily Bolton.

Across the street, Jill Carey didn’t think much of the storm until she saw a tree limb in the master bedroom.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Carey. “It looks like a karate chop coming through the ceiling, it’s wild it happened.”

There was also some property damage reported, including a porch that was ripped from a multi-family home in Upton. All 10 residents of that home have since been displaced, and the American Red Cross is helping them, according to Upton police.

Another Upton porch was damaged, as well.

As fate would have it, Tim Kelleher is scheduled to close on the sale of his home in Upton next week. Mother Nature may have had other plans, though; a tree took out part of the porch.

“I play the lottery all the time,” said Kelleher. “I never win the lottery. A tornado in Upton when I’m four days away from closing, I win that.”

No injuries were reported in the overnight storms.

"There's a lot of damage here, trees down onto homes," Glenn Field, a warning coordination meteorologist with National Weather Service's Norton station, said. "What we're specifically looking for is the direction those trees fell. We have found that they're lying in opposite directions."

Megan Flannery was shocked to wake up Thursday to find that part of the roof of her apartment building on Main Street in Upton had been ripped away by the destructive winds.

"I was like, 'Close the windows,' and, like, the whole place was shaking," she said. "It felt like a crazy wind storm."

A full report on the Worcester County tornadoes was released Thursday evening.

Contact Us