It was 10 years ago this week on Monday morning, July 28, that the neighboring community of Revere made national news when a tornado touched down at Mill Creek at the Chelsea line and tracked up Broadway to Brown Circle, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake that can only be described as something that one might see in a war zone.
When area residents awoke Monday and set out on their business for the day, there was no sign or warning of what Mother Nature would have in store for them at 9:34 that morning. But in the course of approximately five terrifying minutes, an F2 tornado — in all its fury and unpredictability — swept down Broadway and adjacent streets, causing tremendous damage to businesses, buildings, and homes.
An excerpt from the front page story of our sister newspaper, the Revere Journal, described the scene in the immediate aftermath this way:
“The sound of a freight train resounded outside the windows of Broadway businesses and homes in the immediate surrounding neighborhoods, a telltale sign of a tornado. Heavy things that aren’t supposed to fly around like plastic bags were swirling; the opposite side of Broadway was invisible from one side to the other. The lights went out. The winds howled. Dumpsters were moved several yards. The skating rink roof was ripped off and deposited on Taft Street. City Hall windows on the south side were blown out like bombs had burst — even computer screens and interior windows burst under the pressure of winds that tossed roofs like Frisbees and tore down granite blocks from the chimneys….Many people, who had no warning of the approaching storm, were outside or driving. They were blown in the winds, emerging from the whirlwind terrified and shaking, hardly able to relay to the Journal what had just happened to them. Just minutes after the storm passed, people who had been outside got up from where they were or emerged from their cars in a zombie-like daze.”
Revere’s public safety personnel were on the scene within minutes of the tornado’s strike, doing everything they could to restore calm and order and to assist residents, almost all of whom had never witnessed a tornado in their lifetimes and who were in a shell-shocked state. In addition, the outpouring of assistance from Revere’s neighboring communities and their public safety personnel in the aftermath of the tornado was heartwarming.
The workers of the city’s Department of Public Works labored around the clock to clean the debris that resulted from the tornado and quickly restored a sense of normalcy to neighborhoods that were strewn with wires, trees, branches, and metal objects.
For those who were in the path of the F2 tornado, it is something that they will never forget. Miraculously, despite the immense destruction caused by the twister, which lifted roofs off buildings, uprooted large trees, and tossed cars around like Lego toys, nobody was killed and there were no serious injuries.
The Revere Tornado of 2014 now is a chapter in the history of our area. It will stand alone as an incredible weather event, a reminder of the havoc that Mother Nature can wreak in literally just a few minutes, the likes of which we hope we will never witness again.