GREENFIELD — High winds knocked down trees across the region, blocking roads, shutting down power and damaging property during a fast-moving storm that swept through the region Monday afternoon.
Priscilla Ress, spokeswoman for Eversource, said that more than 600 customers in Franklin County lost power during the storm.
Power crews were called to help out with fallen trees in many towns, including Bernardston, Erving, Millers Falls, Gill, Northfield, Deerfield and Turners Falls.
“We had widespread damage in Franklin County,” Ress said. “Everything from limbs on wires to wires down.”
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Monday, predicting that strong to severe thunderstorms were expected to develop.
The watch was issued for western Massachusetts from around noon to 8 p.m. by the Boston office.
“It wasn’t a significant event here in Turners Falls,” Fire Department Captain Kyle Cogswell said. Other than a few trees that fell on power lines, he said, the storm didn’t cause much damage.
In the northern part of the region, Northfield Fire Chief Floyd M. “Skip” Dunnell III, said even though Bernardston and Warwick suffered storm damage, his town didn’t have a single 911 call.
“We came through it unscathed,” he said.
In Bernardston, Fire Chief Peter Shedd said three town roads were closed due to downed power lines, and a tree fell on a house, causing substantial damage.
As of 6:30 p.m., River Street, Martindale and Shedd Roads were shut down. The chief said firefighters used ATVs to transport residents to their houses.
Shedd said crews were working to clear the roads, and warned people not to try to remove trees from lines themselves.
“Stay clear of power lines,” he said. “Treat every power line like it’s live.”
After the storm, residents were left to clean up debris strewn across yards and fallen trees to cut up and remove.
Bobbi Galway of West High Street in Erving said a 60-plus-year-old maple tree fell on a brand new pool she and her family had recently bought to escape the heat.
“We’ve only had it for about two weeks, and my daughter has been in it every day — it’s probably her favorite thing right now,” Galway said. “But not anymore!”
No one was injured in the incident, Galway said, but it gave her a serious scare. “I was upstairs folding laundry and I heard this loud crack — I thought it was lightning. Then there was this huge boom and my whole house shook.”
She emerged from the house to find her neighbor shouting to ask if she was all right, and then saw the tree. Galway said the pool is insured, and they’ve already filed a claim.
Ress said that crews were working as quickly as they could to restore power back to customers who had lost it.
Reporter Tom Relihan contributed to this story.
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