As wind speeds picked up, all of Bobby Richard’s patio furniture fell into his pool at his Holden house. Richard’s eldest son suggested that they go into the basement to stay safe.
A tornado warning had been issued for Worcester County.
Once it calmed outside, Richard and his family left their Willow Brook Drive basement and found a massive tree dividing the lawn between him and his next-door neighbor.
And it wasn’t just Richards’s property that had a fallen tree on it. Several homes on Willow Brook Road and the neighboring Bailey Road suffered similar fates, with one house having a tree fall on its roof.
A tornado touched down in Central Massachusetts Saturday, a National Weather Service’s radar confirmed.
The radar showed a tornado in Holden moving east at 40 mph at 4:07 p.m.
A meteorologist from the National Weather Service told MassLive it was too early to determine whether the tornado touched down in the area of Bailey and Willow Brook Roads. Still, residents told MassLive they think the tornado touched down in their area.
Jonathan and Lexi Peden, parents of two young children, were in their home on Willow Brook Road when their tree in the front yard fell over.
One minute, it was pouring rain and then all of a sudden, it turned “pitch black” outside, according to Lexi Peden. Suddenly, the tree in their backyard had fallen over.
“The winds came through and the trees like, folded into itself,” Jonathan Peden said.
No one was hurt and the house wasn’t damaged, according to the Pedens. Their neighbor on 340 Bailey Road, however, had a tree fall on their roof at the same time the tree fell after 5 p.m. they said.
The family at 340 Bailey Road declined to comment to MassLive.

Branches from trees were scattered on both Bailey and Willow Brook Roads. Other houses had trees overturned and their trash bins placed on their sides. The two roads appeared to suffer more damage than other parts of Holden, though multiple trash and recycling bins throughout the town were found on their side.
The Holden Police and Fire Departments did not immediately respond to requests for comments on Saturday.
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