Rebuilding After The Tornado, Sturbridge Residents Just Glad They Survived
STURBRIDGE (CBS) - The June 1 tornado left a monstrous and frightening foot print just off Main Street in Sturbridge.
Hundred foot trees were sheared, as if by a giant lawn mower.
The cleanup, a massive and daunting task is underway and will take weeks if not months.
WBZ-TV's Chief Correspondent Joe Shortsleeve reports
Power is out.
Businesses have collapsed.
Windows are gone.
Cars are crushed.
Neighborhoods look like war zones.
But in Sturbridge, everyone is alive.
Corey Blair was working at an auto body shop when the twister hit blew right through it.
"I prayed. It was horrible," he said.
Half of the auto body shop is leveled. The twister cut through some trees and raced up a hill before flattening half of the concrete building.
Jeremy Savoie was also inside the shop.
"I was holding onto my boss to keep him from flying away," he recounted.
The devastating twister then raced straight for Neal Campbell's house where he was working in his home office.
"I know I am lucky to be alive," said Campbell.
The office window and wall to his home were blown out.
On Willard Street, in front of his Sturbridge home, the damage goes for as far as the eye can see.
But the day after the worst tornado most had ever seen, neighbors joined together under a warm blue June sky to cleanup and rebuild.
