WEBSTER, MASS. (WHDH) - WEBSTER, MASS. (WHDH) – A massive cleanup effort continued in Webster Sunday, one day after a tornado touched down in the middle of town, leaving several buildings damaged and dozens of residents displaced.
The tornado, which touched down around 10 a.m. in the area of Main Street, did so much damage that two buildings had to be demolished and the American Red Cross had to be called in to assist the some 45 people left homeless.
The owner of a Main Street dance studio told 7News the roof of her building was torn from the structure while she sought shelter from the powerful winds in the basement.
“All of a sudden we heard a huge explosion,” she said. “We heard our windows pop on the front of our studio and all the lights went out and immediately grabbed our purse and our cellphone and ran into our basement and laid on the floor in the closet, and just hope that we were going to be OK.”
Three buildings in the area were seriously damaged by the storm. Two were ordered demolished.
The residents of the areas affected are now emerging from their homes today to repair the damage done to their town.
“When I got up this morning I was hoping that it was a dream, Dru Smith said. “There is a lot of work that has to be done now.”
Smith said she hid in her tub as the storm cut through. Her home is still standing.
Jesus Nieves’ was not so lucky. His entire apartment complex was destroyed by the tornado.
Nieves calls yesterday’s events tragic saying “we lost everything pretty much.”
One woman suffered minor injuries when debris from one building fell onto her car.
No additional injuries were reported.
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