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(Photos courtesy Norton Police Department Facebook)
NORTON (WBZ-AM) -- Residents in Norton are cleaning up damage from what the National Weather Service confirmed Wednesday was a tornado.
"Additional survey work is ongoing to determine further details regarding this tornado," the NWS said in a statement.
At the height of the storm, more than 2,000 residents lost power--and the damage spanned a quarter of a mile. Heavy equipment was brought in to clean up tree limbs and debris in the area of Reservoir Street and Mansfield Avenue.
Several homes were damaged, and Fire Captain Jason Robbins told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe crews had to cut through several trees with a chainsaw just to get one woman out of her house.
"The initial call came in from the resident of not being able to evacuate their house due to the damage, and they thought a tornado went overhead," Robbins said. "We were able to get to her--took us some time, because we had to go in on foot."
He said three properties were affected
Susan DeBlois was at home making dinner, and said she couldn't believe how fast the storm blew in.
"I had a noise, and I'm like, what is that noise? And it was hail," she said. "So I went to the side door, and I noticed everything was leaning. The wind had picked up terrible, it was scary, and I yelled for my kids to get into the basement, actually, and we all went to the basement ... I video'd a minute of it, and then when the tree in the backyard snapped, we just ran into the basement, that was the end for me."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) reports