Sudden thunderstorms "came out of nowhere," tore down massive trees in northern Massachusetts
Severe thunderstorms tore through northern Massachusetts early Friday morning and left a trail of scattered damage.
Ayer, which is about an hour northwest of Boston, appeared to be hit the hardest.
Several massive trees came down, some on homes, others knocking out power lines and blocking roads. Many streets were shut down because there was so much debris. People living in the area said they were caught completely off-guard.
"I made my cup of coffee, then all hell broke loose," said Shirley resident Shirley Landeigine. Her front yard is full of trees and other debris and can't even get her car out of the driveway. "Thunder, lightning, couldn't see out of any window, smoke all over, smoke. The side of the house, the front of the house, the driveway. We can't stay here, can't use the toilet and flush, we've got no water."
"Just came out of nowhere"
"It was crazy, it just came out of nowhere," said Ayer resident Debi Rich.
"I didn't even know we were getting rain today and I was just getting ready for work and it was just like this thundering noise. So I looked out the window and the hail was bouncing all over the place. Then I saw all the trees down and the rain was just coming in like sheets and it got very dark, it was very loud. It was definitely something."
There were no reports of any injuries.
"Never seen a storm like this here"
"I looked out and I was like, holy moly!" Ayer resident Amy Fairweather said as she gestured to a large tree dangling over the road across from her home. "People were driving underneath that. It was so dangerous. I've never seen a storm like this here in my life."
"The winds were unbelievable, I'm surprised there wasn't more damage with smaller trees but these bigger ones came right down. And the hail, it was just quick and boom!" Fairweather said.
Utility companies spent the day cleaning up, assessing the damage and making repairs. Some residents were told the power outages could linger into Saturday.
