"A war zone."
That's how North Andover resident Bill Coleman described his yard after Thursday night's windstorm.
Coleman's home at the corner of Great Pond Road and Stevens Street lost power late Thursday night when six trees fell on power lines. As of yesterday afternoon, he still didn't have electricity, and downed trees still blocked Stevens Street by Great Pond Road.
"Little by little, we're trying to get it cleaned up," Coleman said.
His family stayed at a nearby relative's house that had power while he worked in the yard with a chain saw.
"I stayed here with the animals, keeping the fire going, running the faucets every once in a while (to keep pipes from freezing)," said the father of two. "The kids are warm, which is important."
Except for isolated pockets, most of the Merrimack Valley regained power yesterday. But in Southern New Hampshire, the outages remained more widespread, with some smaller towns like Atkinson and Newton still entirely without power.
"This gray house down here has power, but we don't. The people behind us have power, but we don't," said Patty Martel, who lives on Claremont Avenue in Haverhill.
Residents said they hadn't been given estimates for when electricity would return.
"We're just hoping this doesn't go into next week," Coleman said.
"If they don't have us on by this evening, we have a friend's house we can stay at," Martel said. "Hopefully it's not going to be a few more days. Our house is 53 degrees right now."
In December 2008, Sheila Dunlop of East Hampton, N.Y., was visiting her daughter and grandchildren in Newton, N.H., when the ice storm hit. Less than two years later, she's visiting her daughter again in the aftermath of Thursday's windstorm.
"It's almost like it's happening all over again," she said.
Dunlop, her daughter, Jennifer Hever, her two young children and niece headed to the shelter set up at Sanborn Regional High School in Kingston yesterday morning to get some breakfast and hot coffee.
During the ice storm, Hever lost power for a week. She hopes it won't last as long this year.
"You'd like to think Unitil learned something last year (the ice storm)," she said. "I know you can't help it, but it's frustrating."
Hampstead resident Marie George learned from the ice storm of 2008. She waited three days to head for the shelter set up at Hampstead Middle School in 2008. But she was one of six people to spend the night at the Hampstead shelter on Friday.
Still, she said this storm was nowhere near as devastating as the one in 2008.
"It's not as dramatic," George said. "It's just annoying."
The storm has forced some from their homes, and left streets impassable, but it hasn't been bad for everyone.
Mayo's Market in Danville was one of the only stores in its area with power, and business has been booming.
Corrine Mayo, who has owned the store for seven years, said it's the busiest she has ever seen it.
"I got here at 7 (a.m.) and there was already a line," she said.
The convenience store normally operates a modest business selling gas, but its two pumps saw a steady stream of cars all day Friday and yesterday, Mayo said.
Back on Claremont Avenue in Haverhill, Lisa and Joe O'Neill said they stayed at a hotel in Methuen on Friday night and searched for a store that was selling generators.
"We looked everywhere and everybody's out," Lisa O'Neill said.
Neighbor Bob Perrault said he has been keeping his refrigerator closed in an attempt to preserve his food. He and his wife went out to eat a couple times and bundled up at home. They passed the time by sleeping, he said.
"That's about all you can do," he said.
As National Grid crews worked in the snow to fix a fallen utility pole on Ayer Street in Haverhill yesterday morning, resident Tony Calderone said he had been without power since Thursday night. He left his food on his porch to keep it cold, and his family turned on the oven to keep warm, he said.
Meanwhile, the swollen Merrimack River crept toward the pavement on Coffin Avenue in Haverhill, near the Groveland border. The water was within about a foot of the street in some spots yesterday afternoon.
"I'm definitely worried," said Leslie Perkins, who lives near where Coffin Avenue meets Groveland Street. Water overflowed onto the yard of her multi-family building.
"Even if it doesn't come in the house, you have the cars and the building and all the kids' toys," she said.
