In the early evening of May 19, torrential rains, fierce winds, and thunder and lightning storms assaulted Paxton. On their way home from work, drivers were forced to pull their cars over to the side of the road, hazard lights flashing, while they waited out the storm. 

Residents on Richards Avenue looked out of their front windows and could not see the street because of the literal sheets of rain that fell. However, they would not experience destruction like the other side of town.

In the West Street area near Nanigian Road, some residents grabbed children and pets and ran to their cellars, fearing a tornado was going to tear their house apart. One resident felt her home shaking and saw rocking chairs whipped off their front porch and sent flying across the yard. 

Frank Nocera is a Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Weather Service. When contacted after the storm, he said he was working the radar that evening.

“There wasn’t any rotation or tornadic signatures on radar,” said Nocera, “and the atmosphere wasn’t conducive for tornadic storms.

“It was definitely a straight-line damaging wind event,” Nocera continued. “Winds at Worcester Airport peaked at 68 miles per hour at 5:30 pm that day. These wind speeds can certainly pick up rocking chairs and blow them 40-plus feet, shake homes, and knock down trees and power lines.”

Parts of Suomi and South streets, Nanigian and Black Hill roads, and areas off West Street including Moore State Park suffered calamitous tree damage. Paxton town departments responded quickly. Emergency services including police and fire departments, the department of public works, and the Municipal Light Department worked long hours to clear fallen, twisted trees from roadways and power lines. The towns of West Boylston, Holden, and Boylston came to give mutual aid and help restore power.

 At the May 27 Select Board meeting, Paxton Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Michael Pingitore described the damage as more extensive and costly than the EF1 tornado, verified by the National Weather Service, which set down in Paxton on September 8, 2025. On May 19, 300 homes lost power and six homes either had trees fall on them or sustained significant wind-related structural damage.

Pingitore said the final damage report from town departments will not be ready until mid-June. The likelihood of Paxton receiving state or federal disaster relief funding is unlikely due to financial thresholds that must be met, so costs will have to be borne by the town. Costs associated with the town’s response will not be part of the June 22 Special Town Meeting budget override discussions.

Pingitore emphasized the importance of tree maintenance going forward. “Proactive trimming and removal of hazardous trees from your property can significantly reduce the likelihood of damage to homes, vehicles and infrastructure,” he said.

The devastation along Black Hill and Nanigian roads can still be seen, and Moore State Park remains closed. “The Department of Conservation and Recreation had already been conducting cleanup efforts to address debris left by a recent storm [May 19] that passed through Moore State Park when strong winds over the weekend [of May 30 and 31] caused new additional tree damage,” said a spokesman for DCR. “DCR is continuing cleanup efforts and is actively surveying the site to determine the extent of the damage and the likely duration of the park’s current closure.” 

Accompanying this article are post-storm photos.