East Side Hit Hard by Macroburst Storm

Melrose residents saw the destructive force that is a "macroburst" on Sunday afternoon, with wind gusts of up to 80 miles per hour uprooting trees and causing damage across the city.

Terry Waugh of 357 Porter St. was heading out her door with her family to go out to eat on Sunday when she says she saw one of the trees on her yard "spinning" around. Then the tree next to it, an extra tall tree that reached up to the sky, either got struck by lightning or felled by the strong winds.

"We heard a loud 'BANG!'" she reported. Then one of the tallest trees in her yard fell down, uprooting right up and out of her yard and landing across Porter Street, pulling power lines down with it, and blocking all access at the far end of Porter Street. It also landed on the front end of her husband's car. 

"It was a good thing there weren't more cars parked there, or his wasn't parked up just a bit further, or it would've been totally crushed," Waugh said.

As Waugh and her family stood outside the house, neighbors gathered to examine the extensive damage and offer support. All were just stunned — practically speechless — by the ferocity of the storm.

Though Waugh lost power around 4 p.m., she noted, "The Melrose Public Works guys are doing a great job cleaning up." 

The National Weather Service (NWS) released a statement Monday around 1:30 p.m. that stated that a severe thunderstorm triggered a "macroburst" — a large version of a downburst, which can cover multiple communities along the track of a severe thunderstorm. Sunday's macroburst caused extensive damage: widespread tree and spotty structural damage across portions of Eastern Massachusetts, including suburbs like Melrose, just north of Boston.

Most of the damage, the NWS reported, occurred between 3:45 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Wind gusts, according to a National Weather Service meteorologist, were 60-70 miles per hour in the macroburst, with isolated gusts up to 80 miles per hour. The NWS stated that Sunday's macroburst, with its intense downdraft, pulled down to the surface "unusually strong winds at 5 to 10 thousand feet aloft."

A quick walk around the East Side of Melrose displayed a collage of collateral damage:

• Just a few houses down from the Waughs, the very last house on the right side of Porter Street (which was blocked off by yellow caution tape) suffered from a large fallen tree, which also pulled down power lines.  Melrose Police and the DPW's cherry picker truck showed up.
• Same story on Russert Lane. Again, it was impossible to pass; a huge tree blocked the street.
• The Darwin's house on Meadowbrook Road had a huge tree crash down in front of their house, halfway blocking the road, and crushing their sons' portable basketball backboard. 
• Further down Meadowbrook Road, a large tree was downed on the green of the Bellevue Golf Course.
• The Connor family on Ardsmoor Road was busy viewing the damage from a large, fallen tree on their business van, and discussing costs for tree removal and insurance coverage.  They also had no power, as the tree pulled down the power lines. They have a young baby and another on the way. A delivery car pulled up across the street, away from the trees and wires, with takeout for dinner. 
• On Porter Street, a collection of three houses set back from the street were almost impossible to even see. An extraordinarily large tree in the front yard pulled right up from the roots and fell over, across the driveway, blocking entrance to and from the house. The hole left by the tree's roots was large, wide, and about two feet deep.

Neighbors and friends walked up and down Porter Street and many of the side streets on the East Side Sunday night to survey the damage and compare stories.  Beth McCarthy and her husband, Dennis, who live off East Emerson Street, were out walking with their two children and dog. 

"Our cables are down," Dennis McCarthy grimly told the small group gathered on the sidewalk. 

"Do you have cable?" a woman walking by asked, turning her head around so as to hear the conversation.

McCarthy paused for a second, then spoke slowly so the woman could understand. 

"Yes, we do have cable. They're down on the street."

"But do you have cable?" she asked.

 He paused again, finally comprehending her real question.

"Yes, we do still have cable," he replied, smiling. "So we can still get the Celtics' game at 8 p.m."

Everyone smiled and laughed, then headed home.  It was almost time.