![]() "I've been here 32 years and this is the worst storm I've ever seen in terms of damage," Easthampton Police Chief Bruce McMahon said. Others agreed that the storm was among the most severe in an already bad year. Tosado, who lives in Sixteen Acres, rented a hotel room because power and heat was out at his home. City Council president and mayoral candidate Jose F. Sarno, who lives in Forest Park, said he had two trees down at his home and the electricity was out. ![]() ![]() Cohen said a five-minute drive to Suffield Street took him 20 minutes. In Agawam, so many streets were blocked that Mayor Richard A. This is mother nature's wrath," she said. "It's just going to be a lot of clean up." Merchant was living in Wilbraham at the time of the June 1 tornado and her home suffered damage there, too. "During the night we heard the trees cracking and our large oak tree is now in pieces, said Karen Merchant. Ingersoll Grove, in the historic McKnight neighborhood, had several large trees down blocking side streets and stranding residents. Teams made up of crews from Western Massachusetts Electric Co., the city's forestry division and the Department of Public Works were working to remove trees, although the effort was complicated by the dangers of live wires resting among the tree limbs, Rooney said. By the early afternoon Sunday most of the main roads were clear, but at least half of the city's nearly 2,000 roads were at least partially closed because of downed wires, downed trees or both, said John Rooney, deputy superintendent for the Springfield Department of Public Works. Many tornado-damaged trees in the East Forest Park area fell in the storm, he said. Some of the hardest hit areas are off North Branch Parkway and in East Forest Park. Having already faced a major blizzard, the June 1 tornado, a microburst and a tropical storm, Sarno called this storm the worst because it hit all areas of the city. Sarno asked residents to stay off roads and obey the city parking ban, so that crews can clean up downed limbs and plow snow, which, in turn, will allow utility companies to repair downed wires. The governor kept repeating the same message: "We are asking people, as much as possible, to stay off the roads for their own safety." Mayors across Western Massachusetts echoed that. "The conditions are different from community to community," Patrick said. On Sunday afternoon there were still some towns, especially in Franklin County, which were completely without power. Worst hit were central and Western Massachusetts, but the storm affected the entire eastern seaboard. At least 10 hours after the storm, officials were still concerned about dangers from falling tree limbs, because some had broken but were still hanging above streets and wires. "The amount of snowfall alone in this time of year is epic, but with the major outages and tree damage it's historic," said abc40 meteorologist Dan Brown. "This is a house-by-house, road-by-road response." The National Weather Service reported snowfall exceeding 14 inches in Springfield and Chicopee and 20 inches in Shelburne. "We are looking at days not weeks," he said. He warned residents it could take days for power to be restored in many places. Patrick declared a state of emergency and mobilized 700 National Guard troops to help clear downed limbs and assist police. Patrick said in a visit to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency in Agawam, Sunday. We have had a remarkable number of downed trees and because of that downed wires," Gov. "The snow is heavy and wet and the leaves are still on the trees. Saturday after he left his car on Parker Street and touched the guardrail, Springfield Lt. Jeffrey Mattarazzo, 20, of 117 Shady Brook Lane in Springfield, was killed at about 5 p.m. A Springfield man who touched an electrified wooden guardrail was the only fatality from the storm statewide. A historic October snowstorm that dumped more than a foot of snow on some communities in Western Massachusetts, left more than 700,000 people without power, closed thousands of roads and dropped tree limbs on cars and houses this weekend.
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