A torrential rain storm carrying winds of 70 mph or more walloped the Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire last night and early this morning, knocking power out to tens of thousands of customers and causing what some police called one of the most chaotic nights in recent memory.
"It's an absolute zoo ... one of the worst in a long time," Haverhill police Lt. William Leeman said just before 11 p.m. "Nine-one-one (the emergency line) has not stopped ringing."
The storm, with recorded wind gusts near hurricane force, raged throughout the night before the worst blew out this morning, taking trees, roofs and siding with it. Its wake was visible throughout the Merrimack Valley this morning, roads and yards littered with limbs, roofing shingles and lawn furniture.
Haverhill is opening the Citizens Center at 10 Welcome St. as a shelter for anyone in the city who may be without power. "There are wires down across the city, trees down, roads blocked, and there are accidents," said Deputy Chief Donald Thompson. "There have been extra officers on duty since last night. Even with a good numbers of officers being held over, all personnel that don't normally have patrol duty have been put on patrol. And as of two hours ago we had 30 calls pending and no personnel to send." Lawrence Department of Public Works Director Frank McCann said the Merrimack River is supposed to crest between 8 and 9 p.m., which impacts the Spickett and Shawsheen rivers. He said the areas of specific concern are the Winthrop Avenue area where a sewer pumping station will shut down if the Merrmimack gets too high. When that happens sewage backs up into properties.
In Methuen, emergency officials were meeting and monitoring the Merrimack and Spickett Rivers and waiting to decide whether to trip the city's emegency management system and open a shelter. Of particular concern is where the Spickett crosses Broadway and Lowell Street along the Merrimack River. Mayor William Manzi said neither of those spots were flooding yet, but "we would anticipate both rivers go higher than they are right now." Power outages closed the Marsh School and City Hall, where a large tree fell across the parking lot in back. Manzi said there were trees and power lines down throughout the city. "No rhyme or reason to it," he said. Also of concern is the Erving Avenue area which is on Spickett River and is a flooding spot for the city. He said they are watching the area and may need to sandbag, but is waiting to see how high the rivers rise and what the threat of 1 to 4 inches of snow brings this afternoon. Police in Salem, N.H., reported that a house on Ash Street was destroyed by a fallen tree.
The National Weather Service reported extensive storm-related damage across Essex County, including 2 inches of water flooding Franklin Street in Lawrence.
One Haverhill neighborhood lost power when a large tree limb fell across wires at 47 Rosemont St.
Trees and power lines were falling so fast in Salem that the Police Department found itself backed up by about 40 storm-related calls by 1 a.m.
Police said a falling tree demolished a house on Ash Street, but nobody was injured.
The Salem police station lost power briefly and had to switch to its generator.
Public safety officials said the combination of heavy rain and surging gusts of wind knocked down many tree limbs, some of which landed on power lines. There were numerous reports of flooded streets.
At 2 a.m., National Grid reported more than 55,000 homes and businesses in Essex County had their power knocked out.
Schools in Andover were closed today due to the power outage. A National Grid spokeswoman this morning said 52,000 homes in the Merrimack Valley were without power,
The two towns most affected were North Andover with 22,000 residents without electricity and Newburyport with 16,000 households.
"It was just chaos, but no tragedy," North Andover police Sgt. E.J. Foulds said.
At least half a dozen streets in North Andover were closed including Dale Street at South Bradford; Johnson Street by Route 114 to Mill Road; Bradford Street by Route 125 to Barker Street; Great Pond Road on Route 125 to Bonny Lane.
In Methuen, several streets were closed due to wires down and trees blocking the roads. They include Riverside Drive, Maple, Forest, Hampstead, Chelmsford and Brooks streets.
Thirty-eight streets in Derry were closed as of 2 a.m., due to fallen trees and downed wires.
National Grid hoped to have a lot of power restored to affected customers early today.
Public Service of New Hampshire is working this morning to restore power to the more than 229,000 of its customers without service.
Unitil reported winds over 65 mph hit the Seacoast and Capital regions in New Hampshire. As of 5 a.m. today, 40,000 Unitil customers were without power.
A devastating fire hit a block of businesses on Ocean Boulevard in Hampton Beach just after midnight, destroying the Surf Hotel, an arcade and several other businesses. Firefighters from three states battled the blaze.
The National Weather Service said the strongest wind gust of the storm — 68 mph — was reported at just about the same time.
The storm delayed the press run for today's editions of The Eagle-Tribune. The paper was expected to go press about 10 a.m. Also delayed were the press runs for our sister papers, The Salem News, The Daily News of Newburyport and the Gloucester Daily Times.
Lt. Leeman said the Haverhill police station lost its ability to communicate with officers on the streets, when power was knocked out. He said the problem lasted about 20 minutes, a relatively short time but a period during which police could not communicate with each other.
Leeman said the department had to call in its auxiliary volunteer force to help respond to all the emergency calls for tree limbs down, power outages and other problems.
In Methuen, Anna Demers got spooked by a loud bang in her front yard at about 11 o'clock last night — a sure-fire sign that the wind and rain storm raging outside hit too close to home.
"I was hearing the winds, and heard this really loud noise. It was a big boom. I thought something blew up, said Demers, who lives in a two-family home at 102 Swan St., near the Lawrence city line.
When she looked out the window from her house, she noticed the large old pine tree laying across the roofs of both cars and extending through the dining room window of a neighbors home.
"The Lincoln Town car looks totaled. The whole roof is down to the seats. It's smashed right in," Demers said.
"It's an 80-year-old pine tree we were talking about trying to get rid of it last year. It's about two stories high."
The lights at Demers home flickered through the night, but did not go out.
Police and public safety departments were deluged with complaints of fallen trees and power lines that blocked or partially blocked dozens of area roads.
One Haverhill neighborhood lost power when a large tree limb fell across wires near the Graham's home at 47 Rosemont St.
Jean Mitchell, the sister of Janet Graham was visiting when, just after 10 p.m., they heard a gust of wind that sounded like it was "going to blow the roof off," Mitchell said.
"Then all of a sudden we heard a big crash and glass break," she said, explaining a large limb fell across power lines and several vehicles in the driveway of the Graham home. "All the wires came down."
She said it appeared the windshield of William Graham's pickup truck was broken and other vehicles may have been damaged.
Mitchell said power went out to the entire neighborhood for several minutes and then came back on to other homes, but not the Graham house.
Wind gusts in the city reached more than 50 mph during much of the night, blowing smaller limbs and trash from barrels around neighborhoods.
Haverhill's Lt. Leeman said as police received call after call from residents, the department reported electrical failures to power company officials so they could arrange for repairs.
Public works crews dealt with tree limbs that affected roads. Crews were expected to be out in full force today cleaning up limbs in roads or on public property.
