When area residents awoke Monday morning, there was no sign or warning of what Mother Nature had in store for the city of Revere.
But in the course of approximately four terrifying minutes, a tornado – in all its fury and unpredictability – swept down Broadway and adjacent streets and caused tremendous damage to businesses, buildings, and homes.
The National Weather Service affirmed a few hours later that it was in fact a tornado that had wreaked such incredible destruction on the city of Revere.
The fact that there were no fatalities or serious injuries is amazing and one for which we are so thankful.
The outpouring of assistance from Revere’s neighboring communities and their public safety personnel in the aftermath of the tornado was heartwarming.
Mayor Dan Rizzo truly demonstrated outstanding leadership throughout the day and was clearly the executive in charge of the city and its recovery efforts from the outset. The Mayor is to be commended for his superior coordination of all the city departments in what was a unified and well-organized approach to a testing experience for the city.
The Mayor credited Governor Deval Patrick’s office for immediately reaching out to the city and pledging that the state would employ whatever resources necessary to help Revere recover from the devastating effects of the tornado. Our governor, our state representatives, Speaker of the House Robert A. DeLeo and Rep. Roselee Vincent, our state senator, Anthony Petruccelli, our congresswoman, Katherine Clark, and our U.S. Senators, Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey, and our city councilors all were front and center providing assistance, support and resources during the day whether it was in person, through their direction, or in their presence of their aides.
Revere’s public safety departments – its firefighters and police officers – were on the scene within minutes of the tornado’s strike and doing everything they could to restore calm and order and to assist residents – almost all of whom had never witnessed a tornado in their lifetimes.
The Department of Public Works deserves a lot of credit for working around the clock to clean the debris that resulted from the tornado and restoring a sense of normalcy to neighborhoods that were strewn with wires, trees, branches, and metal objects.
The Tornado of 2014 is now a part of the city’s history. It will stand alone as an incredible weather happening, the type of which we hope we will never witness again. But the city can be proud of all the individuals who helped the city and its residents in a time of need.
Revere has learned how potent a tornado can be and it’s important for our future safety that all warnings about hurricanes, tornados, major snowstorms, and blizzards be respected and heeded by our community.