Storm downs trees in Holyoke, Chicopee crushing cars, closing roads
Holyoke and Chicopee continue to clean up following a Saturday storm that crushed several cars, knocked out power to roughly 1,100 homes and businesses and closed multiple streets.
The storm only lasted about 30 minutes but brought high winds to the city downing large trees and wires and damaging utility poles.
"There were no injuries but several cars were crushed by limbs," said Jeffrey Trask, emergency management director for Holyoke. "The Highlands, Ward 7, and a little of Ward 6 bore the brunt of it."
Neighboring Chicopee also faced similar damage with 506 homes and businesses losing power for as long as 12 hours and multiple trees and limbs fallen, Mayor John Vieau said.
As of Sunday afternoon, Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia announced electricity had been restored to all but seven homes on the Cleveland Street and Park Slope area where utility poles had to be replaced and some service is only reachable through the backyards.
Trees were reported down throughout the city and parts of four major roads including Route 5, Southampton Road, Route 141 and Homestead Avenue were closed. Multiple side streets also had trees and other debris blocking them, Garcia said.
Interstate 91 between Northampton and Holyoke was also shut down because of trees blocking the roadway. That pushed traffic onto Route 5 which also had some closures, Trask said.
The storm started around 3:30 p.m. and the worst was over by about 4 p.m., but it brought high winds that toppled huge trees. There was also flash flooding in some spots because of the heavy rain, he said.
One large tree on Montgomery Avenue was uprooted by the wind, fell on top of a car and pulled up a large section of sidewalk.
Trask said a 60-foot weeping willow in his own yard in Ward 7 was also uprooted.
This 60-foot weeping willow tree in Holyoke was downed by high winds in a storm on Sept. 6, 2025. (Jeffrey Trask photo)republican
The city is working with state agencies to investigate if the damage was caused by a microburst or if it was just high winds, Trask said.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has been working with local emergency management directors across the state but no one requested assistance Saturday, said Robert Burgess, an agency spokesman.
Several towns and cities reported debris in roadways, power outages and canceled events. Agency staff will investigate with personnel from the National Weather Service on Monday to conduct a post-storm survey and determine if the storm brought tornados or microbursts, Burgess said.
The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down in the Central Massachusetts town of Holden.
On Sunday, Garcia reported the city's yard waste facility would remain open to help residents cleaning up from the damage.
"The Holyoke DPW is actively developing a plan to assist with the significant volume of tree debris across our community," Garcia said. "We will share further details once the plan is finalized."
Whiting Reservoir will remain closed to the public until a large amount of tree damage can be cleared from the paths, he said.
Under mutual aid agreements, Springfield and Easthampton public works departments assisted Holyoke to clear trees from roadways after the storm on Saturday, Trask said thanking those employees.
In Chicopee the majority of damage was in the Willimansett section of the city. On Sunday afternoon a small part of Chicopee Street remained closed as Department of Public Works employees continued to clean up fallen trees and wires, Mayor John L. Vieau said.
"No one got hurt and that is the important part," Vieau said. "I couldn't be more proud of the tremendous effort that came from the lineman and Chicopee Electric Light and the DPW."
Vieau, whose home is in the center of the storm damage, said he lost power at about 4 p.m. and it was restored around 4 a.m. Electric Light officials said his neighborhood was one of the last to see electricity restored because of the damage.
A massive tree fell on top of the spray park at Sarah Jane Sherman Park but Vieau said the structure is closed and being replaced this year as part of a planned renovation of the park off Chicopee Street.
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