CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – High winds dropped trees on homes, knocked out power and even knocked over the big Christmas tree outside the Statehouse. They and the booming thunderstorm they brought Friday night also ended a springlike stretch of weather that set high temperature records in the region.
No one was hurt as trees fell on homes in Keene and Cornish.
In Keene, one home was nearly split in half and its occupants will have to move out.
In Cornish, two trees fell in one yard. One fell on a home and another dropped power, telephone and cable wires across Route 120. The road was closed for three hours as crews replaced a pole and removed the wires.
Fallen trees also forced authorities to close roads in Keene area.
In Holderness, a teen driver was treated for minor injuries after a tree blew over and landed on her windshield as she drove by. Another tree landed on a car in Cornish, smashing the windshield, sun roof and rear window, police said. That driver was not hurt.
The falling trees tore down powerlines and snapped utility poles in many areas, forcing crews to work through the night to restore power.
Public Service Company said about 10,000 homes and businesses were left in the dark at one point, mostly in the western part of the state. Other affected areas were Tilton, Lancaster, Rochester and the Newport area.
One high-profile victim of the storm was the big Christmas tree in front of the Statehouse. The wind snapped the base of the trunk around 8 p.m., dropping the tree on the wide sidewalk on Main Street.
No one was hurt and crews had the tree back in place by noon Saturday and were replacing smashed Christmas lights.
The storm brought an abrupt end to a stretch of unseasonably warm weather.
Just a day earlier, the 67-degree temperature tied a record set in Concord in 1881. Temperatures were expected to be around 30 degrees cooler by early in the week.
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