(NECN: Ally Donnelly, Brimfield, Mass.) - Brimfield is best known for rolling farms and antique fairs, Brimfield, saw that quaint New England scene thrashed as tornadoes churned through Western Massachusetts -- killing one person in this town of 3,600.
Mike Edwards arches his arm across the skyline, "Right straight across right over the hill right there. It was crazy." Edwards is still shaken after his 14-year-old old son was home alone -- forced to scramble into a neighbor's basement -- debris slamming the house. "Words can't....I can't explain it right now," he stuttered through near tears.
Mike Lavorandi hustled his kids into the cellar as he watched a line of trees snap like twigs. "They were all bent over like this like here was just a big plow coming down road," he said. "It looked like tumble weeds it just kept going. It was kind of amazing. I've never seen nuthin' like that in 53 years."
This elderly woman was rescued after half her house collapsed. Family tells us several neighbors homes were totaled. While some were fleeing their homes, others couldn't get to them. Roads in every direction, for miles around, impassable.
Said Debbie Reynolds-Joffe, "I've tried all accesses from down 20 to Sturbridge to all the side roads back to Monson. Trees, electrical lines on fire, just complete devastation everywhere." Reynolds-Joffe of Wales was stranded at this Brimfield elementary school-turned shelter after a tree fell on her car. "It was very scary," she said. "Luckily there was no one coming the opposite direction because I ended up swerving." Swerving, but knowing how lucky she is in a region so devastated.
