ORANGE — Residents described seeing the sky turn black and sheets of rain blow sideways during a storm that knocked out power for thousands and caused significant damage in Orange Tuesday night.
The National Weather Service’s Taunton office didn’t rule out a microburst — or sudden, powerful air current.
“We would need to look at that a little bit more, it’s not out of the question at first glance. Certainly, we did have fairly significant storm damage,” said meteorologist Bob Thompson. “It might be considered a microburst, we will want to look at that a little bit more.”
The storm left trees on multiple houses and cars, and debris littered on the roadways. Several streets, including Wheeler Avenue, were impassable due to fallen tree limbs.
Just after 8 p.m. the Orange Police Department reported “significant storm damage and multiple calls for service,” saying there were road closures and power outages. The department said it did not have a complete list at the time as calls were still coming in. A mutual aid engine company was on the way for coverage and assistance.
Tuesday’s storm ripped through the region in under an hour. There were no reports of injuries.
Thompson, noting that the Weather Service office was “still in warning,” said the North Quabbin region, notably Orange and Athol, received the most significant wind damage. The service also reported “pea to dime sized hail.”
Orange Planning Board members were in a meeting at Town Hall when the storm hit. When Kevin Kennedy, the town’s director of community development and planning, walked outside, he found his rental car under a fallen tree in the parking lot across the street.
“The wind was really blowing here,” Planning Board member Dick Sheridan said.
The board members waited near the parking lot for the town’s Highway Department to show up and remove the tree. Both the Highway Department and Fire Department were responding to calls throughout town.
Across North Main Street, Cathy Stanton of Wendell said she left a meeting at Quabbin Harvest to find her Subaru Impreza also under a tree. She said she was unsure about the extent of the damage, but could see the car’s windshield was broken.
Stanton said when the storm hit, the sky turned black and trees were blown sideways by the wind.
“The entire world went away, there was so much water in the air,” she said, adding everyone in the meeting ran downstairs in case of a tornado. “Then the sun was out in under 10 minutes.”
On Summer Street, a tree fell on a multi-family home. Keith Phelps of Orange was walking his dog past the property after the storm cleared and said the wind was so strong it blew a fan out of his window. Although he didn’t lose power, Phelps said the sky turned “pitch black” and rain fell sideways in sheets.
As of around 9 p.m., National Grid listed 2,644 outages, the majority in Athol and Orange. Paula Haschig, an electric company spokeswoman said “crews are in the area assessing the situation, and currenty we don’t have an estimated time of restoration.”
Elsewhere in the region, authorities fielded calls about a tree down on a North Maple Street house in Whately, a portable plastic greenhouse being lifted and blown 80 feet in Shutesbury, and trees on wires in towns including Montague and Leverett.