Home » Accidents » Snow and Ice Accident »

Winds, snow and ice cause havoc

Dec 17, 2007 | Amy Carr | Berkshire Eagle Online

Thick pine branches wrapped around Brian Butler's two-story home like an eagle's talons gripping its prey. Outside the Main Street residence, Butler stared blankly through the lens of a video camera at the 50-foot tree that crashed onto the roof, engulfed his home and smashed one of the cars parked out front.

"You can still hear that thing cracking," he said, collecting footage for his insurance company of the tree toppled during yesterday's storm. "We were watching TV, and I heard the wind blow and a big crack and saw the tree coming toward the window. Then the crash. That was loud."

According to Hancock firefighter Anthony Chase, all four occupants of the home, including two children, were unharmed when a strong gust of wind uprooted the tree. Chase said the massive tree had little ice or snow on the branches and appeared to be rotted out from the inside.

While Butler took careful inventory of scattered shingles and pieces of glass from his totaled car, he also took note of things graciously spared amid the storm's destruction.

"There are holes in the roof, and you can see the branches in the attic and one poking through a ceiling tile on the second floor," he said. "But it missed the chimney by inches and nobody's hurt. That's really the important part. The other stuff is just material."

According to the National Weather Service in Albany, powerful winds reached 50 miles per hour in parts of Berkshire County yesterday during the height of the storm that dumped 4.4 inches of snow in Pittsfield and more than half an inch of sleet and freezing rain.

"This storm itself (was) more impressive than the one the other day," said meteorologist Brian Frugis. "It brought all different types of precipitation with wind that (was) capable of bringing down trees and causing spotty power outages and accidents."

Early evening sleet caused slippery driving conditions and resulted in several accidents, including a head-on collision that sent three people to the hospital.

According to Pittsfield Police Officer Marc Maddalena, the driver of a blue Toyota lost control of his vehicle while traveling south on South Street and crossed into oncoming traffic, striking a white SUV head on. Both drivers and the passenger of the SUV were transported to Berkshire Medical Center. Police would not comment on the extent of their injuries.

Yesterday's slick conditions resulted in a handful of other minor accidents across the county, according to police, who noted conditions did not seem to improve for drivers as snow continued to fall into the evening. Adams Police confirmed a tow-car accident injured a 17-year-old female just before 9 p.m. but declined to release any further information.

While many residents spent the day indoors trying to avoid the elements, Andres Ramirez, 16, and Nick Aragon, 16, took to the streets of Pittsfield to lend a helping hand.

"We had this all planned out last night," said Andres, shoveling snow from around the base of a homeowner's car. "This is the biggest storm so far, obviously, so we decided to come out and help people who don't have snow blowers and things like that. We've got nothing better to do."

Though the National Weather Service said precipitation from the storm would be well over by today's morning commute, Andres and Nick may not have long to wait for the next round of shoveling.

"It looks like we could have some snow Wednesday and Friday," said Frugis. "But to be honest, we're not sure yet just how much. We were really focused on this storm."