State Of Emergency Declared In Harwich After Tornado

HARWICH (CBS) - Town officials declared a State of Emergency in Harwich after a tornado struck the area Tuesday, knocking out power and taking down trees.

The National Weather Service says the tornado touched down in Yarmouth and then touched down again in Harwich. The maximum wind speed for the tornado was 110 mph, which equates to a strong EF1 tornado.

The Town Administrator made a request to Eversource to cut off power to all of Harwich due to the significant amount of downed power lines. And, the police department implored residents to stay off the roads.

"Utter destruction. There's probably 100 to 150 trees down in this neighborhood alone all over the wires, all over people's homes, people's property," Joe Zabielski said as he surveyed the damage in his neighborhood off Tody Pole Lane.

Main Street at Queen Anne Road in Harwich is blocked by tree limbs and live wires (Photo Courtesy: WBZ-TV | Louisa Moller)

Main Street resident Ann Diggs said she had never experienced a storm quite like this one.

"It was noisy but we never thought it was doing this much damage," Diggs said.

Two Red Cross staging centers have been set up in Harwich at the Community Center and at the Police and Fire Station.

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