Dozens of people were stranded at the Franklin Pierce University Rindge campus for hours on Wednesday, after a fierce storm took down trees and blocked both roads used to access the campus.
Along with historic heat this week, thunderstorms and strong winds also brought down tree limbs and caused other damage, including creating power outages across the state.
According to a press release issued by Eversource on Thursday, the company responded to isolated outages caused by storms throughout the week, and restored power to approximately 36,000 New Hampshire customers since Wednesday’s severe thunderstorms entered the state. Restoration of any remaining outages were expected be substantially complete by 4 p.m. on Thursday.
Rindge Director of Life Safety and Fire Chief Rickard Donovan said there were more than 70 people still on campus when a fierce thunder and lightning storm swept through the southern part of the state. The storm created downed trees across town, particularly along Route 119 and in the west Rindge area. One of the areas hardest hit was the Rindge’s Franklin Pierce campus.
“There were 70-plus people on campus that were stranded. It was a challenge,” Donovan said.
Assistant Vice President of University Communications and Marketing Marissa Colcord said in addition to cutting off access points to the college, the storm also took down several trees and limbs on campus, and some shingles off the roofs of buildings, but didn’t cause any structural damage.
University Drive was not cleared until shortly after midnight, allowing those on campus when the storm hit to leave, Colcord said. While waiting for the road to clear, staff and students had access to the campus dining hall, which maintained power, to remain cool in the air conditioning and access food. Those who decided to stay overnight at the campus were provided accommodations in the residence hall.
“Overall, we’re very fortunate. When trees come down, it’s all about what direction they fall,” Colcord said.
Power was still out on campus on Thursday morning, and the campus was closed. There is currently a summer session at Franklin Pierce, but the programs are online.
The campus was not the only area hard hit by the storm, Donovan said. About 20 roads were impacted by downed trees, with about a dozen made completely impassible. Boats came undone from their docks and owners were left to retrieve them this morning.
Trees came down on residences on both Kimball Road and Pine Eden Road, but no injuries were reported, Donovan said.
While the fire department was working well into the early hours of Wednesday night dealing with storm damage and clearing roads along with the Highway Department, the department also had to respond to a report of a tire fire on Route 119 near Wellington Road.
Donovan condemned the act of vandalism, particularly as it was done in the midst of an actual emergency situation where emergency responders were already over-taxed, and were working to clear roads until 3:30 a.m., only to respond to more reports as early as 6:30 a.m., when residents awoke to assess damage.
“That’s not what we need. It’s totally disrespectful,” Donovan said. “It’s getting to be way too much.”
Jaffrey also saw extensive tree damage from the storm, according to Fire Chief David Chamberlain, though all roads were back open as of Thursday morning.
On Wendesday, fire crews responded to reports of trees or limbs down on about 18 local roads, including a large tree which went down by the Benjamin Prescott Inn, taking out wires and power for a large swath of the area, including the MilliporeSigma manufacturing plant.
Trees came down on cars in several areas, including damaging vehicles on Hadley Road, River Street and Highland Avenue, but there were no reported injuries.
Other nearby towns saw damage from downed trees. Lynne Simonson of Greenville reported that two huge trees fell on her house, causing “a fair amount” of damage to the roof.
Aaron Lafreniere, also of Greenville, said that a tree fell right onto his truck, and more trees came down in his backyard.
Jen Kone of Greenville also had a tree fall onto her detached garage and land resting on the power supply line to the house. “It could have been so much worse,” she said, as the house was undamaged and nobody was injured.
In New Ipswich, impacts of the storm included a 33-year-old man who was electrocuted trying to turn on the light after his house was struck by lightning. Acting Chief of Souhegan Valley Ambulance Service Wendy Leger said that he was thrown twelve feet across the room by the electricity, but has since been released from the hospital.
Reporter Julia Stinneford contributed to this report.