By Stephen Cheslik
And Michael White
SPECIAL TO THE EAGLE TIMES
EAGLE TIMES MANAGING EDITOR
The national weather service has confirmed that a tornado touched down near Keene, N.H., just before 3 p.m., Thursday.
“The first touchdown in West Swanzey was just south of 101, by Keene, and then it basically tracked along 101 to Dublin,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist Sarah Thunberg in Gray, Maine.
The official determination came after a Weather Service team from Gray deployed to the area Friday morning to inspect the damage.
While most of the damage was to trees and power lines along Route 101, Thunberg said a school in Dublin received damage to its siding and shingles.
“No injuries were reported,” she said. “As far as from a warning perspective, the warning went really well. We had the warning, and everyone was able to get into shelter.”
It could have been worse. Thunberg said summer campers heard the warning and got to shelter before the storm hit.
“Hearing that is always very nice,” she said.
Police blocked Route 101 in Dublin, N.H., Thursday afternoon to allow crews to clean up the mess left behind by a tornado and restore power.
“101 is trashed, there’s multiple trees and wires down,” said police patrolman Stephen Dalterio on Thursday.
“A ton of electric and tree trimming crews” responded to the area “to get this mess cleaned up as soon as possible,” Dalterio said.
During the cleanup, traffic was routed around Dublin Lake.
While the Weather Service team had not returned to Gray by Friday afternoon, a preliminary assessment of the storm gave it an Enhanced Fujita Scale rating of EF1, meaning it had 3-second wind gusts of 85 to 110 mph.
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