The Massachusetts Caver - Boston Grotto

struggled to keep up with about 1,300 hot bodies. As the
attendees finished their meals, somebody rolled open several
of the garage doors on the side of the building to let
air into the big event hall. Several dozen people stepped
out for some air as the NSS officials continued to read off
awards and call people to the stage. Rich, John and I
were talking to a woman from the Met Grotto when
somebody ran up from the direction of the campground
and yelled “a big storm with 80 mph wind is headed this
way!!” Sure enough, the sky to the west looked ominously
dark.
Rich and John sprinted for our tent site, intending to pull
down the two awnings before the wind struck. I was a
few minutes behind them and about halfway across the
field to hill and trees where we were camped when the
wind started. At first I thought this was just the usual
precursor to rain. But no rain came, and the wind got
stronger . . . and stronger . . . I started running as fast as I
could. I could see a huge cloud of dust and debris approaching
from the direction of the beer tent and shower
building west of me. Then a massive blast of wind hit —
probably AT LEAST 80 mph, and I had to dodge flying
tents, reams of paper and numerous small objects. The
heaviest wind lasted maybe 10 seconds.
At the moment of the peak wind, Rich, John and Steve
were feverishly trying to break camp and pack the trucks,
when Rich suddenly heard Joanne shouting “THE TREE,
THE TREE, RUN, RUN!!” Rich jumped out the way as
the black walnut tree split down the middle and two
thirds of the tree came hurtling to the ground. One piece
landed on Rich’s truck, another hit John’s screened awning,
from which Rich and John had just removed the
poles, and another section of the tree hit Steve &
Joanne’s truck. About this time John’s tent went airborne
and he almost went airborne with it, but he recovered his
feet in time to stop his tent and catch a second passing
tent with his free hand.
The wind let up to around 40—50 mph, and I resumed
running, but I could no longer easily recognize the way to
go. Most tents were gone. Any awnings (wind shades,
screen porches, flags, tarpaulins etc.) were gone or flattened
to the ground. After I got to our campsite and assisted
in getting our remaining stuff into the trucks, I be-
The Massachusetts Caver
Piercy’s Mill formations, photo by Michael Chu.
Giant rimstone dams, photo by Michael Chu.
gan to take in the tree damage. Our tree, a mere twig of
its former self, was leaning at a crazy angle, and several
large trees behind our tents had fallen down. I saw two
big trees (3 - 4 foot in diameter) that had uprooted and
squashed a car and a truck. The wind continued, now
with light rain, as nightfall approached and it started to
get dark. We were told by a running caver that another
storm burst was just minutes away.
By this time a group of survivors had donned hardhats
and lights and organized search teams to look under
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