MONSON, Mass. (AP) -- The sight of flattened homes, peeled-off roofs and the toppled steeple of a 140-year-old church stunned New Englanders after deadly tornadoes swept through Massachusetts, striking an area of the country that rarely sees such severe twisters.
The storms, which came with fair warning but still shocked with their intensity, killed at least three people, injured about 200 and wreaked damage in a string of 18 cities and villages across central and western Massachusetts.
Tornadoes are not unheard of in New England -- the downtown of Connecticut's largest city was devastated by one last June -- so many people heeded warnings. That didn't guarantee their survival; among the dead was a mother who shielded her teenage daughter as they huddled in a bathtub.
But in many cases, doing the right thing -- quickly -- helped save lives.
Karen Irla, 50, was leaving Adams Hometown Market in the picturesque village of Monson when she heard children on their bicycles yelling, "Look at that tornado!"
"I screamed and I screamed and I screamed, and that's why I have no voice today," said Irla, who went against experts' recommendations by getting in her car. She made it to a nearby senior center and waited until the storm passed.
The storms, which came with fair warning but still shocked with their intensity, killed at least three people, injured about 200 and wreaked damage in a string of 18 cities and villages across central and western Massachusetts.
Tornadoes are not unheard of in New England -- the downtown of Connecticut's largest city was devastated by one last June -- so many people heeded warnings. That didn't guarantee their survival; among the dead was a mother who shielded her teenage daughter as they huddled in a bathtub.
But in many cases, doing the right thing -- quickly -- helped save lives.
Karen Irla, 50, was leaving Adams Hometown Market in the picturesque village of Monson when she heard children on their bicycles yelling, "Look at that tornado!"
"I screamed and I screamed and I screamed, and that's why I have no voice today," said Irla, who went against experts' recommendations by getting in her car. She made it to a nearby senior center and waited until the storm passed.
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