Sunday marks the third anniversary of the most powerful storm to strike Massachusetts in a half-century, an EF-3 rated tornado that killed three people, injured dozens more, and damaged or destroyed 2,000 buildings between Springfield and Sturbridge. Rebuilding in the city of Springfield has been aided by about $100 million in federal and state funds.
An urban renewal has taken place along Central Street, the main thoroughfare that links the low- income Maple High-Six Corners neighborhood to downtown Springfield. Tornado-damaged houses and four-story brick walk-up apartment buildings have been razed. A half-dozen single family homes have been built, with more under construction, and still more planned throughout the neighborhood.
Orlando Santiago bought one of the newly built houses and moved in with his wife and daughter.
" I like it. I like the neighborhood, I like the houses. I heard this was a bad neighborhood before but after the tornado it changed a lot."
Michael Grilla says the neighborhood looks a lot different than it did before the tornado.
" It has really changed. The trees too. They planted new ones but it will take a long time to get back what was here before."
City Councilor Melvin Edwards said the neighborhood, which had long been a center of blight and crime, is finally getting the attention it needs.
" I am very happy with where we are and I think we are going in the right direction. I am very excited."
While private insurance paid to rebuild tornado-damaged homes within a year in the middle class East Forest Park and Sixteen Acres neighborhoods, the Maple High-Six Corners area had to wait for the arrival of government funds.
A plan to spend $22 million in disaster recovery grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was approved last fall. FEMA and the city announced a final settlement of $25 million in January for the public property destroyed by the tornado.
The work in the Maple High-Six Corners neighborhood has followed a master plan that was produced with input from 3,000 people at a series of public hearings and forums held during the six months after the 2011 tornado.
" This was an example where the people in government did listen to the people. 90 to 95 percent of what people in the neighborhood said they wanted we are getting," said Edwards.
The centerpiece of the tornado recovery in the neighborhood is the new Brookings Elementary School that is under construction. The new school, scheduled to open in 2015, will replace a building that was damaged beyond repair by the tornado. The Massachusetts School Building Authority is paying the full $28 million cost of the new school.
Mayor Domenic Sarno said he is proud of what has been accomplished in three years.
" We have made a lot of progress here. It takes time, there is more to be done."
Several tornado-damaged properties in the South End are in the footprint of the $800 million resort casino proposed by MGM. Construction is expected to start later this year to replace the destroyed South End Community Center.
Springfield Roman Catholic Bishop Timothy McDonnell announced in March that tornado-damaged Cathedral High School would be rebuilt at its current location, but church officials have yet to say when the reconstruction will begin.
While most of the tornado damage is no longer visible, Sarno said the city will never forget what happened three years ago.
" We mark the anniversary, we do not celebrate it. I ask all houses of worship to ring their bells at 4:38 p.m."
4:38 p.m. is the time the tornado first touched down in Springfield as it blew across the Connecticut River, making land at Riverfront Park.
