SPRINGFIELD, MA (RNN) - At least four people are dead and hundreds injured after a rare slew of tornadoes, swept across Massachusetts Wednesday.
Gov. Deval Patrick said two people were killed in Westfield, one in West Springfield and one in Brimfield.
"We are hoping and praying and working as hard as possible to keep the fatalities limited to those four," Patrick said.
More than 200 people have been treated at area hospitals for non-life threatening injuries, according to Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency's Peter Judge.
Patrick began touring affected areas in Springfield Wednesday night and will continue his assessments through Thursday.
Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, called Wednesday night's severe weather a once in a 100 years event during a news conference Wednesday night.
"It requires all of us to come together in a special kind of way, to help our neighbors, to help our communities, to look out for others," Kerry said.
The governor has declared a state of emergency and has mobilized up to 1,000 members of the National Guard to help in the recovery efforts.
"These are my neighbors and my friends too," Patrick said. "I think I speak for all of us that we're worried about our friends and neighbors, our fellow citizens in central and western Massachusetts who've been affected by this terrible tragedy."
The storm knocked out power to at least 48,000 National Grid and Western Massachusetts Electric customers.
Brian Hall works at a book store in Somerset, MA, about 90 minutes from West Springfield. He called the manager of the franchise's West Springfield location shortly after the storms passed through.
"The manager answered the phone very frazzled. She had just gotten out of the utility closet," he said. "She started walking around the store. The store has its own building but there are other buildings around it. The building next door is just gone."
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A neighborhood in Monson, MA, is left in splinters after a slew of tornadoes ravaged the northeast Wednesday. (Source: WGGB/CNN)
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