Twisters Kill 4 in Western Mass.
Gov. Patrick declares state of emergency as rescuers go door-to-door.
| Posted Thursday, June 2, 2011, at 8:48 AM
Rescuers in western and central Massachusetts are going door-to-door after multiple tornadoes touched down in the state Wednesday, killing at least four people and injuring another 40.
Gov. Deval Patrick has declared a state of emergency and ordered up to 1,000 National Guard troops to help with the rescue efforts, according to the Boston Globe.
“We are in an emergency situation,” he said. “We are hoping and praying and working as hard as possible to keep the fatalities limited to those four.”
Officials say that two of the deaths occurred in West Springfield, one in Springfield, and one in Brimfield. More than 30 people were injured in Springfield alone, including five seriously. The storms reached Springfield, roughly 90 miles west of Boston, at around 4 p.m.
“We are in triage right now,” Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said late Wednesday, CNN reports. “We are in life-saving mode.”
Tornadoes are uncommon but not unprecedented in Massachusetts. Wednesday’s twisters appear to be the most deadly since 1995, when a Memorial Day tornado killed three people in Great Barrington.
Watch video of one of the tornadoes touching down in Springfield below:
