By Amanda McGregor
Thousands of North Shore residents were still without power Friday night in the wake of Thursday's storm and near-hurricane-force winds that felled trees, mangled power lines and flooded roads.
A few motorists were struck by trees, resulting in minor injuries, and crews worked all day Friday to clear debris and repair downed power lines.
In Salem, the relentless winds peaked at 73 mph — 1 mph short of hurricane force — according to Arthur Francis, part-time professor of climate and weather at Salem State College.
Salem and Beverly set up emergency shelters late Friday for those who were still without electricity and heat.
"The storm damage was pretty significant," Topsfield fire Chief Ronald Giovannacci said Friday afternoon, when more than half of Topsfield was without power. "I saw at least one tree that struck a house, rolled off and landed on their car on Parsonage Lane."
In Salem, which received nearly 3 inches of rain, according to Francis, the damage appeared heaviest along the coast. The storm lifted the deck planking on the pier at Salem Willows, uprooted several trees and toppled an electrical pole. A large oak crushed a gazebo and picnic table.
"It looks like a bomb went off down there," Salem Building Inspector Tom St. Pierre said.
The storm surge was so strong that it toppled Abbott's Rock, a pile of granite blocks between Salem Willows and Winter Island that serves as a navigational aid to boaters.
"It knocked them all down flat," said Harbormaster Peter Gifford, who alerted the Coast Guard.
Messy roads, flooding
There were road closures around the North Shore Friday. All day, crews cleared fallen trees and damaged signs and repaired downed power lines, telephone lines and cable TV lines.
Residents pumped out flooded basements, and firefighters extinguished fires that flared up as power was restored.
"They turn the power back on, branches catch on fire, and we get calls," Giovannacci said.
In Boxford Friday afternoon, more than 2,500 homes were still without power. The town kept open the police station and both fire stations to provide residents access to water, bathroom facilities and electricity to charge cell phones.
Salem opened a shelter at Nathaniel Bowditch School, and Beverly set up an emergency shelter at Hannah School because an estimated 5,000 customers were still without power late Friday afternoon in Beverly.
A Beverly woman received minor injuries when a large tree limb crushed the roof of her car at 10:55 p.m. Thursday on Hart Street in Beverly Farms, according to Deputy fire Chief Peter O'Connor. Trees crashed through roofs on Thoreau Circle, Evergreen Drive and Hemlock Street.
At the corner of Corning Street and Sylvan Road in Beverly, the storm snapped the top off a pine tree, which flew across the street onto the power lines, snapping two telephone poles.
"I was watching the Olympics, and poof! All of a sudden it was gonzo," said Herb Schlegel, who lives on nearby Gardner Street, as he stood watching crews repair the damage.
Heavy seas
High tides and flooding forced road closures on Jeffreys Neck Road in Ipswich and the causeway out to Marblehead Neck, where Devereux Beach was also submerged.
At the Gordon College campus in Wenham, the wind apparently ripped one of the chapel doors off its hinges and blew it onto the patio in front of the chapel, according to student Samuel Dennis, who works in the college Department of Public Safety.
"They were coming out of rehearsal," Dennis said. "A student exited, and the wind caught the door and it came off the hinges."
Some of the campus buildings were still without power Friday night, he said.
In Ipswich, the entire town was without power Friday. It was slowly being restored throughout the evening, according to police.
In Salem, close to 2,000 customers were still without power Friday afternoon, but National Grid was expected to restore it by Friday night or, in the "worst-case scenario," by Saturday evening, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll said.
Schools out
The storm damage and power outages prompted school closures around the North Shore on Friday.
Centerville Elementary School in Beverly lost power, but rather than cancel school, Superintendent James Hayes moved all the kids to North Beverly Elementary because it would have been difficult to notify parents in the power outage.
Many businesses were also left without power. Along Dodge Street in Beverly on Friday morning, the supermarket, banks, coffee shops and other businesses were shuttered with handwritten notes and whiteboard messages in the windows.
In Salem, the Rockmore floating restaurant broke apart in Salem Harbor, and sections of the float washed ashore. A large sailing sloop hit the rocks by the old lead mills near the Marblehead/Salem line.
There also was damage to the Blaney Street landing, which is used by the Salem ferry, and to the public pier on Congress Street.
The Beverly Fire Department responded to 22 emergency calls in all between 10 p.m. and midnight Thursday.
In Peabody, police received 60 storm-related calls, mostly about downed trees and branches, but the city escaped any major flooding or power outages, according to police Capt. Dennis Bonaiuto.
"There was tremendous cooperation between all agencies," Ipswich police Sgt. Justin Daly said. "Everyone really pulled together and did a great job during the difficult 18 hours or so we've had."
Staff writers Tom Dalton, Cate Lecuyer, Matthew K. Roy and Ethan Forman contributed to this report.
