SUNDERLAND — Doug Pion said he was sitting in his living room when it suddenly sounded like a train as a tree fell and crashed into his Sunderland home.
“It sounded like a loud crack, and then a rush,” Pion said. “I knew exactly what it was.”
The large tree, which according to Pion is owned by the town, cracked and fell at about 9:30 a.m. as the storm was moving out of the area. It also fell on and crushed three cars in Pion’s driveway and damaged walls on the house as well as his front porch.
“This has been quite the tourist attraction today,” Pion joked. “Nothing happens in Sunderland. Occasionally a cow goes missing.”
The tree was one of several that fell after a line of storms swept through Franklin County Sunday morning. The storms were ahead of a cold front and started around 8:30 a.m. and ended about an hour later, according to Rebecca Gould, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. Temperature and dew points dropped off after the storm, which included wind gusts up to 40 to 50 mph. The storm left trees down in Deerfield, Montague and Sunderland, according to Gould.
A section of Stillwater Road in Deerfield was closed because wires were down in the area for about three hours, according to the Deerfield Police Department Facebook page.
It also delayed the Sunday opening of the Franklin County Fair. The fair’s final day of events, which were supposed to begin at 8 a.m, were delayed by about two hours, according to the fair’s website.
The National Weather Service said the next chance for showers and thunderstorms will be with an incoming cold front that will move into the area late Wednesday afternoon and into the night.