Region feels storm fury

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Staff photo by Don Himsel Peter Wolczko, a 13-year resident of Amherst, photographs the Souhegan River Friday, February 25 2010. Powerful wind accompanied the last storm through the region Thursday night, toppling trees and causing power outages throughout the state. Wolczko said he had "never seen it so high."

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Photos by Kathleen Baglio Humphreys This was the scene on the Francestown Turnpike in Lyndeborough on Friday morning, where downed power lines left many people in the dark. Residents suffered power outages due to down trees on power lines from the previous day’s snow and wind storms. (not sure about everyone else but we were without power for about almost 2 days) Further down on the Turnpike, sections of Mont Vernon were closed due to power lines and trees on the road. Sorry for not getting these to you sooner..we had no power then the internet was down.

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Staff photo by Don Himsel Peter Wolczko, a 13-year resident of Amherst, photographs the Souhegan River Friday, February 25 2010. Powerful wind accompanied the last storm through the region Thursday night, toppling trees and causing power outages throughout the state. Wolczko said he had "never seen it so high."

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One house in Milford and a garage in Mont Vernon were damaged by falling trees and a number of roads throughout the area were closed, but overall most of the Souhegan Valley seemed to have escaped major damage from the severe windstorm last week.

Statewide, nearly 300,000 homes and businesses lost power during the storm, which started about a half hour before midnight on Thursday.

By Tuesday afternoon, most Public Service of New Hampshire customers in Milford, Amherst and Mont Vernon had their power back.

In this area, Amherst bore the brunt of the heavy winds that downed trees and power lines

Amherst and Mont Vernon schools were forced to close Monday, extending students’ winter break by a day.

Amherst Fire Chief Rick Todd said a number of residents in the Chestnut Hill Road area were still without power Monday afternoon. SAU 39 executive assistant Maryanne Buonadonna, whose neighborhood is between Horace Greeley and Chestnut Hill roads, verified Todd’s report: “I’m one of them,” she said Monday afternoon at the district office. “It seems our area is the first to lose power and the last to get it back.”

Up the hill in Mont Vernon, Fire Chief Jay Wilson said on Monday that almost all was back to normal, with power outages remaining to only a few homes scattered throughout town.

“The lines coming up from Milford seemed to hold up pretty well,” Wilson said, adding that the center of town experienced only a brief, two or three hour outage late Thursday night into Friday’s wee hours.

The roads that were blocked by trees or flooded by swollen streams have opened again, Wilson said. “What’s left now is the repair work.”

He said a number of roads are collapsing in spots because of the heavy rain and rapid, uneven melting of the frost heaves that opened up the pavement over the winter.

No storm-related injuries were reported around town, Wilson said. The most extensive property damage occurred overnight Thursday when the wind sent a large tree crashing through a garage on Trappist Drive, but the main home was spared, he said.

In Amherst, many longtime villagers said they usually escape the brunt of consequential power outages, but this time, the area was out from late Thursday through most of Friday, shuttering Town Hall, the Town Library, local businesses and the normally-busy Moulton’s market for nearly 24 hours.

In Milford, between six and eight roads were closed at one point, and on Briarcliff Drive a house was damage by a falling tree at about 12:40 a.m. Friday, but otherwise, “we were pretty fortunate,” said Fire Chief Frank Fraitzl.

Some Milford Fire Department crew members never made it to bed that night, because they had been in Lyndeborough, where a propane truck had overturned into a stream on Thursday morning. On the way back, firefighters responded to Fitch’s Corner, at the intersection of North River and Purgatory Roads in Milford, where winds downed trees and power poles at the height of the storm.

Milford roads that were closed temporarily included North River Road, North Street, Ruonala Road, Ponemah Hill Road, and Federal Hill Road.

No one in Milford sought shelter, said the fire chief, perhaps because many people were out of town during school vacation week or because they owned generators.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 673-3100 Ext. 31 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

Kathy Cleveland can be reached at kcleveland@cabinet.com or 673-3100 Ext. 21.