There is a Tornado Watch in effect for almost all of Massachusetts. One streaking supercell reaching across the Bay State moving swiftly East and pushing

upward toward New Hampshire and Maine. This is the kind of conditions that can make for dramatic images - only if I can avoid getting stuck in the middle of it.

The area that the Silresim Superfund Site sits on is known as the Generalized Industrial Zone of Sacred Heart. Its full of autobody shops, recycling plants,

junkyards and smaller tech companies that are looking to make a break. The streets are lined with broken cars, trash and people roaming around for any of the scraps

that could be useful. I guess, I'm no different.

The Natural Gas Power Plant that is being torn down is about 500 feet away from the Superfund Site. It feels weird to photograph it knowing that it will soon be a

Data Center in the coming year. I can't help but think about how a new technology, in its relative infancy will progress. what will be the lasting effects? and who

will be forced to endure them?

This neighborhood is not unfamiliar with this sort of strife. It's occurring more frequently and corporations keep pushing for the space that residents occupy. Though

with a significant level of contamination already existing here - what does it matter?

The EPA states in several documents that the Meadow Brook River will take over a century

to be rid of its VOC's and PCB's that permeated the soil from Silresim.

The Junkyard next to it is doing its part to ensure that the contamination stays. You can't

help but smell the gasoline if you roll your windows down in that area.

As the dark clouds begin to cyclone above me, the rain drops part the oil slick on the surface

of the puddles - hitting the ground with a loud pop. It's no time to

worry about the rain. The thunder and distant flashes are keeping my attention.

I am next to some tall power poles. The big metal kind. The ones that stand much taller than

the wooden ones you see along the surface roads. As the buzzing drones

behind me from the power grid that is still operating. I take five images.

Each shot is the same. No change in composition. The only variable is the moving wall of dark

clouds shifting across the lowest points of our atmosphere. My phone

sends me an alert - somehow penetrating the clouds with a signal from satellite to cell phone.

Its now a Tornado warning that is in effect.

It sends a shiver right through me - the kind that makes you excited but scared all at once. My mind is telling me to go to safety - my car only a few hundred yards

away but its my brain that keeps me planted in place.

The roar of thunder sounds lower this time. As if its coming toward me.. that's when the lights flash and the horn sings. It cut through the wind so clearly. I was

so focused on the sky around me to notice that the train was coming. I shifted my camera slightly. Placing the white gravel strip of road in the middle. The power plant

on the left and the approaching train on the right. There was no time to focus or compose. Frankly, I was too afraid to miss any of what I was seeing to even care. I

just directed the camera into a position that felt right and fired.

I realized this wall of darkness was no longer just in front of me but it had circled around me. It had engulfed me without my knowing. The fear has set in.

The wind picked up, the soft soil around me swept upward - it pushed up my pant leg and up toward my face. Thousands of tiny rocks pelted me and then a sudden crash.

Something from the partially demolished power plant had fallen from high atop the tin roof and smashed the ground within the fence line. Like a building crescendo,

the rain picked up. I heard it coming from down the train tracks. It looked like a fog bank rolling toward me. I grabbed my cameras and sprinted for my car. I was too late.

The rain was faster than me. It came down with such force, the droplets heavy, the thuds could be heard from all around - alerting me to the awesome power of mother nature.

When I got into the safety of my car. I sat, totally soaked and out of breath. I turned the car on and flipped to the AM weather channel - The newswoman spoke loudly

but you can feel her urgency as she fumbled over the bulk of words written in front of her.

"If you are in the Lowell, Lawrence, Billerica area - seek shelter immediately. Heavy winds, flash flooding, hail and reports of spiraling skies".

It didn't take long for the dirt road to turn into a muddy river. I pointed my car toward the clearing, headlights on bright, windshield wipers screeching - the storm

was there and it was time to find a better place to shelter down.