A Drive Down Plumtree Road
After church this morning in Springfield, we took a drive down Plumtree Road, which was along the path of Wednesday's tornado. It was quite a sight to behold. At one point, while held up at the light at Bradley Road, you could see the path of the tornado, as it had cut a 200-foot wide swath in the woods, with the tops of trees shorn off, and other trees twisted and snapped, with shreds left sticking up. But to one side and the other of the swath, you could see trees standing. It was like a giant strode through with a weed whacker. All along the road, there were roofs covered with blue tarps, windows boarded up, branches down, trees uprooted. One park looked like it had been logged, with the scrap wood piled in a parking lot.
The thing was, after we drove down Plumtree, we doubled back and came back on Parker Street and it looked as if nothing had happened (for a while: there was a part where there was damage).
In church this morning (Trinity UMC), Pastor John gave a sermon about how we're used to going on missions and sending aid to other parts of the country and the world, not the place where the disaster happens. And he talked about the community being shaken, and needing to "be still and know" that God is with us. It was a long and heartfelt sermon. A number of members of the church had shown up in bluejeans and work boots and went out after church to help with cleanup around the city. On our drive down Plumtree, we saw streets that were closed, bucket trucks and utility trucks at work. They must have come in from all across the region.
Here's a YouTube video of the tornado crossing the Connecticut River from West Springfield into Springfield and going over the Memorial Bridge.
MassLive also has a collection of photos from The Republican. This one, taken by Mark Murray, shows a scene from East Forest Park:
The other thing that we noted on our drive was the sense of community, people working together to clean up. After three days, you could still tell a tornado had been through, but there is a clear sense of recovery, of rolling up the shirt sleeves and getting to work at cleaning up.
The thing was, after we drove down Plumtree, we doubled back and came back on Parker Street and it looked as if nothing had happened (for a while: there was a part where there was damage).
In church this morning (Trinity UMC), Pastor John gave a sermon about how we're used to going on missions and sending aid to other parts of the country and the world, not the place where the disaster happens. And he talked about the community being shaken, and needing to "be still and know" that God is with us. It was a long and heartfelt sermon. A number of members of the church had shown up in bluejeans and work boots and went out after church to help with cleanup around the city. On our drive down Plumtree, we saw streets that were closed, bucket trucks and utility trucks at work. They must have come in from all across the region.
Here's a YouTube video of the tornado crossing the Connecticut River from West Springfield into Springfield and going over the Memorial Bridge.
MassLive also has a collection of photos from The Republican. This one, taken by Mark Murray, shows a scene from East Forest Park:
The other thing that we noted on our drive was the sense of community, people working together to clean up. After three days, you could still tell a tornado had been through, but there is a clear sense of recovery, of rolling up the shirt sleeves and getting to work at cleaning up.