Northwood Lake is about a mile from our house.
WE were very lucky here,as the windstorm missed us.
Got the heavy rain and wind.
Just an update on the storm.
They are still try to see if this was a tornado.


From a boat on Northwood Lake, Paul Beauchamp of Deerfield (left), Ron Bakios of Deerfield (center) and Dave Schunemann (right) survey the damage to houses on Sleepy Hollow Lane, where a neighbor died. “My house is just missing a couple shingles,” Beauchamp said.
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A few hours after yesterday's storm passed, Carl Holmes trudged up North Road, his shoulders hunched under a knapsack and a pair of bulging black garbage bags dangling from his hands.

The mobile home he rents in Deerfield was knocked from its cinder-block foundation. By chance, his girlfriend and their two toddlers were gone when the storm tore through, but he needed to retrieve a few things, including a nebulizer for his asthmatic son.

"I grabbed what I could," he said, pulling a Marlboro from his bag. "Hopefully tomorrow I can come back for more."

Holmes's property was one of dozens in Deerfield, Epsom and Northwood damaged or destroyed yesterday by a short, violent storm many witnesses described as a tornado. The storm continued moving north through Pittsfield, Barnstead, Alton and beyond. The damage was at its worst along the southern shore of Northwood Lake.

A 57-year-old Deerfield woman was killed, and her husband and infant grandson were injured when their lakeside home collapsed. Houses lost roofs, toppled off their foundations or were obliterated altogether. Felled trees and downed power lines covered several miles of Route 107, forcing commuters to follow serpentine detours and leaving the people living near the lake to pick through the rubble.

"We have 70-foot pines completely uprooted," said Kathy Hynes, whose Deerfield home sits on the edge of the storm's path. "The guy behind us, he's got a view of the mountains he's never had before."

All afternoon, work crews scrambled to clear the highway and the police tried to soothe worried homeowners. The air smelled like pulverized pine, mud and exhaust. Giant trees stretched power lines to the ground and, in a few instances, tore them in half. Electricity and phone service was out, and police officers told residents that it might be days before their utilities are back online.

Extreme weather is far from unusual in the neighborhoods along Route 107. Snowstorms and, over the past few years, floods have cut off travel and utilities. Many residents own generators and keep their basements stocked with essentials, but that didn't stop them from worrying yesterday.

Carolyn Eagan spent two hours dodging detours between her office in Manchester and her house on Gulf Road in Northwood. Her daughter and grandchild saw the storm pass; Eagan feared a repeat of last year's floods, when the family was stranded without power for days.

"I've got milk and a bottle of wine," she said, navigating her little white car past throngs of rescue vehicles. "I told my boss, 'Don't expect me in tomorrow.' "

Eagan was able to drive down her road, but anyone living farther north had a harder time getting home. Many people were turned back by work crews. Some were allowed to inspect their properties as long as they were escorted by a police officer. Before venturing down the road, one woman left her children at Country Berries, a gift shop just beyond the damage.

By late afternoon, a few people sought shelter at the Epsom Central School, where Red Cross volunteers passed out blankets, cots and pizza donated by Domino's and invited people to spend the night. More evacuees were expected after dark.

A handful of residents bushwhacked through the woods to get to their homes near Sleepy Hollow Lane, a cluster of lakeside cottages on either side of the Epsom-Deerfield line. Paul Beauchamp was in Vermont, where he works as a truck driver, when his wife called, hysterical. A black funnel cloud had cut through their neighborhood, damaging their property.

"Half the house is gone," he said.

Rumors circulated that a neighbor, Brenda Stevens, was missing. A few hours later, Beauchamp watched from a boat as firefighters pulled her body out from the rubble of her home. Nearby, a pontoon boat was upturned. Lawn furniture and other debris were scattered across the lake.