Buzzutto's Store Damaged in Mass. Twister

One of at least two tornadoes that roared through the Springfield, Mass. region on Wednesday hit a grocery store owned by Cheshire-based Bozzuto's Inc. causing serious structural damage to an Adam's Market store in Monson, Mass.

The tornado made the parking lot in front of the market look like a junkyard -filled with tipped over shopping carts, plants and wooden boards that appear to have been torn from the building's roof.

"All my employees were safe, they followed procedures and went into a cooler," said Keith Gordon of Meriden. He is the loss prevention and safety director for seven Adam's Market stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts. 

Gordon, a Meriden City Councilman, said he headed to Monson Wednesday afternoon after learning the store had been damaged. He said he was driving right into the storm as the tornado touched down again north of the market. 

Gordan said Thursday that he was waiting for insurance adjusters to come and look at the damage. He said employees were also working to salvage perishable items  – since the electricity has been down since the storms hit – by loading what they could into refrigerated trucks. 

"Who'd expect (a tornado) to happen up here?" Gordan said. 

After assessing the damage and confirming no one was hurt, store employees began to hand out bottled water and ice to residents in the town, Gordon said.

Nineteen communities were affected by the tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service, including Westfield, Springfield, West Springfield, Sturbridge, Oxford and East Douglas.