A tornado NOAA rated EF3 touched down in Westfield on 1 June 2011 and tracked through the valley, including the south side of downtown Springfield. About 1,400 houses were damaged or destroyed. For a roof, the lesson is that surface damage and structural damage are different problems, and each needs its own check.
Key takeaways
- NOAA rated the tornado EF3, and its path of about 38 miles is reported slightly differently across sources.
- NOAA's record places the touchdown in Westfield around 4:17 p.m. and the lift-off around 5:27 p.m.
- The damage record counts about 1,400 houses damaged or destroyed, with roughly 300 of them destroyed.
- Covering damage such as torn shingles and loose flashing is not the same as damage to sheathing and rafters, and both need checking.
- A roof-covering specialty license does not qualify a contractor to judge structural damage on its own.
- Dated photographs taken before any cleanup are the strongest record of how a wind event affected a roof.
What happened on 1 June 2011?
NOAA rates the tornado EF3, with touchdown in Westfield around 4:17 p.m. and lift-off around 5:27 p.m. It stayed on the ground about 70 minutes and crossed the Connecticut River near the Memorial Avenue bridge.
The tornado began in Westfield, where damage in the Munger Hill area was mainly uprooted and snapped trees, along with roof damage to Munger Hill Elementary School. It intensified quickly once it reached West Springfield, with heavy damage to industrial buildings and homes, and some structures collapsed. The National Weather Service survey describes that intensification as rapid, which is why the damage pattern changes so sharply along the path.
The track then ran through Springfield itself. The storm caused extensive damage to the south side of downtown, with many homes destroyed, and the South End was badly damaged. Cathedral High School was significantly damaged. The path continued east through Wilbraham, Monson, Brimfield and Sturbridge to Charlton, so each town along the line has its own version of the same afternoon.
How much damage did it do?
NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information counts about 1,400 houses damaged or destroyed, roughly 300 of them destroyed. Its record lists 51 homes destroyed in Monson and 13 in Wilbraham.
Those are the counts to use when you want a number you can cite. Path length is reported differently across sources: NCEI gives slightly different figures in different places, and Wikipedia gives a figure a little longer again. This guide says about 38 miles. The maximum width was about half a mile. NCEI notes that the path was the second longest in Massachusetts history, behind the 1953 Worcester tornado.
Counts of deaths and injuries also vary between early summaries and later records. NCEI places three direct deaths, two in West Springfield and one in Brimfield, and about 200 injuries. This guide uses the NOAA figures and does not treat any injury count as exact. Damage cost is harder to pin down. NCEI reports 9,500 insurance claims totaling $175 million, and other accounts give different totals, so the claims count is the figure to use if a cost is needed at all.
Why does a tornado damage a roof differently from the shingles?
A roof is a covering on top of a structure. Strong wind can strip or lift the covering while leaving the sheathing and rafters intact, or it can damage the structure underneath while the surface looks almost unmarked.
That distinction changes the repair. Covering damage includes torn or missing shingles, lifted edges, bent drip edge, and flashing pulled loose from a chimney or sidewall. It is often visible from the ground or from a ladder at the eave, and it is generally repaired by replacing the covering. Structural damage means the sheathing, rafters or framing have moved, cracked or lost their fastening, and it may not show on the surface at all.
Look for the signs a homeowner can see safely from inside: daylight through the roof boards in the attic, split or cracked decking, bent rafters, and water stains that appear after the next rain rather than on the day of the storm. The state lists sagging, severe leaks, cracked or split wood members, bends or ripples in supports, and creaking or popping as warning signs of structural trouble, and those signs apply after wind damage just as they do under snow. If any of them is present, leave the building and call 9-1-1 from outside.
Two houses on the same street can take very different damage from the same wind, depending on how the roof was built, fastened and maintained. That is why a photograph of each roof, taken from the same spot each time, is worth more than a general description of the street.
Who should judge whether the structure is sound?
A roof-covering specialty license covers roof coverings and stops short of structural roof work, so the judgment on sheathing and rafters belongs to a contractor who can do that work and to the building inspector. Ask who is responsible for each part of the repair before any work starts.
This is where the licensing rules matter. A contractor holding the roof-covering specialty CSL can replace shingles and membrane, but the specialty license stops short of structural roof work, and the building inspector and the state's Office of Public Safety and Inspections confirm where the line falls. After a storm, a crew that offers to replace the whole roof should be asked what it found under the covering, and what it plans to do about any structural damage it reports.
Permits matter too. Replacing decking or framing is building work, and the Springfield Building Division in Code Enforcement issues permits for construction, alterations and repairs. The city's one- and two-family application has a roof covering category, and the building official decides what counts as an ordinary repair. The permit guide covers how that decision is made for a replacement.
How do I document a wind event?
Photograph the roof and the property from several angles before anyone starts cleanup, date every image, and keep the receipts for temporary protection. Those records support both a repair and an insurance claim, whichever comes first.
The first photographs are the most useful. Take wide shots of the whole roof from the ground, close shots of each damaged area, and photographs of the ceilings and walls below. Note the date and time on each. If trees or limbs came down, photograph where they landed, since that shows the direction of the wind as well as the damage. A photo taken a week after the cleanup shows much less than one taken before it.
Keep everything: the photographs, any written estimate, the crew's notes, and the invoices for tarps or temporary covers. Mitigation, meaning the reasonable steps taken to stop further damage, is generally expected after a loss, and keeping records of it belongs to the same habit. What is covered is decided by the policy and the insurer, so the insurance claims guide covers that side in more detail.
What does the 2011 storm mean for a roof repair today?
The storm is the local benchmark for what a wind event can do in the valley. It is why a roof inspection after any storm looks at the structure beneath the covering as well as the shingles on top.
Much of the valley's housing is old. The city has a great deal of pre-1940 housing, much of it multi-family, and the damage pattern from 2011 shows that the age and form of a building shape what a strong wind does to it. Three-deckers, Victorian houses with complicated roof forms, and low-slope rear additions each respond differently, so an inspection that looks only at the top surface can miss the main problem.
A post-storm inspection should check the covering, the flashing at chimneys and sidewalls, the gutters and fascia, and the attic side of the sheathing. Asking for those checks is reasonable whichever crew you hire. If wind has damaged your roof, the storm damage repair service page describes how that work is usually scoped, and the tornado and storm rebuild page covers larger losses.
What should a homeowner do in the first week after a storm?
Make the area safe, document the damage, call for an inspection, and get a written scope before work starts. Do not climb onto a damaged roof, and do not chip ice or pull debris off a roof yourself.
Start with safety. Stay off a roof with visible structural damage, and keep people and pets away from walls or trees that look unstable. The state's guidance on snow loads gives the same caution that applies here: do not stand on a damaged roof, and do not use ladders where the footing is unsafe. Call for help rather than working on a damaged slope, and let the crew that comes out make the judgment about the structure.
Then get the scope in writing. Ask what the crew found, what it will cover, what it will leave for later, and whether a permit is needed. A written contract is required for residential work over $1,000, and the licensing guide explains which credentials to check on that contract. Phones are answered around the clock at (833) 751-2102, and a technician will look at the roof and explain what was found.
Frequently asked questions
Was the 2011 Springfield tornado the same as the October 2011 nor'easter?
No. The 1 June 2011 event was a tornado rated EF3 by NOAA, while the October 2011 storm was a nor'easter that brought wet snow to trees still in leaf. They are different kinds of storm with different damage patterns. Both belong to the local record of what weather does to roofs and trees in the valley, and the nor'easter is the reason tree damage matters to a roof.
Is all wind damage the same as tornado damage?
No. Tornado damage is concentrated along a path, while straight-line wind and nor'easter damage tends to spread more widely and show up differently on roofs. The inspection steps are similar, though: photograph the roof, check the covering, check the structure and check the attic side. The scale and pattern of the damage will tell you which kind of event you are dealing with.
How can I tell whether my roof was hit by a storm?
Look for torn or missing shingles, granules collected in the gutters, loose flashing and debris marks on the covering. Check the attic for daylight through the boards and for wet or compressed insulation. A roof inspection is the reliable way to confirm the damage, and photographs taken soon after the storm help show that the damage is new.
Does the age of a roof matter after a storm?
It does. Older materials and fastenings tend to be more fragile, and the valley has a great deal of pre-1940 housing. On slate roofs, rusting 19th-century cut nails are a common cause of slate loss. The age of a roof is judged on what can be seen, including the covering, the nails, the flashing and the decking, rather than on a single number.
Who decides whether storm damage is covered by insurance?
The policy and the insurer decide what is covered. The Massachusetts Division of Insurance is the state route for a complaint about how a claim was handled. The insurance claims guide explains what an adjuster usually asks for and how to keep the file in order.
Where can I read more about the 2011 storm?
The NOAA storm events record and the National Weather Service survey material are the primary sources. Wikipedia's article is a useful summary, but some of its figures differ slightly from NOAA's. This guide uses NOAA's numbers where they are given and says so when the sources disagree on a count or a length.
Sources
This guide is general information for Hampden County homeowners, not a substitute for an on-site inspection. Prices are estimates. See our disclaimer.