Residents clean up after tornadoes tear through Southern New England
By: Amanda Pitts
alpitts@abc6.com
@APittsABC6
NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Cleanup is underway after two tornadoes ripped through southern New England Tuesday afternoon.
According to the National Weather Service, a level EF-0 tornado touched down in North Providence then lifted and touched back down in Lincoln as an EF-1 tornado.
The same storm cell spawned another tornado in Norton, Massachusetts, that was a level EF-1.
Residents on Meadow View Boulevard in North Providence were hit the hardest, along with the residents on Riata Drive in Lincoln.
Trees were uprooted, falling on cars and houses. Power lines even snapped in half, leaving many without power for most of the night.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was so intense.”
Angelo Trio lives in the North Providence neighborhood that bore the brunt of the storm. He came home just before it started.
“I heard all kinds of noise, limbs coming down on my roof, and I looked out the window and saw a big black cloud.”
His house was spared from severe damage, but his roof took a hit and debris is left to clean up in his yard.
No one was injured, although the destruction is extensive.
Mayor Charles Lombardi said it’s been a group effort to get things back to normal.
“We have the town of Johnston that reached out to us that is helping us with our cleanup, so everyone’s been very very cooperative and I want to thank the neighbors and residents for that,” said Mayor Lombardi.
In Norton Wednesday, trees were still blown over into yards and debris was still on the roads.
In Lincoln, where the tornado touched down a second time, residents are picking up the pieces too.
“It looked like a bomb went off.”
Kevin Gates came home just minutes after the tornado touched down at his home, and said it was eerily quiet.
“After all that hail and all the lightning and everything I was experiencing on the drive home, it was very very eerily peaceful when I came down the road. Very strange,” said Gates.
Cleanup is expected to take several days.
(c) WLNE-TV 2018
