The city of Lynn was hit hard by a powerful, quick-moving storm Thursday night, while other nearby communities were largely spared.
High winds from the thunderstorm knocked down more than 40 trees and limbs over the course of the night, with some causing damage to cars and houses, according to Lynn Department of Public Works Commissioner Andrew Hall.
The most property damage was caused by a large tree that fell onto a home on Hart Street, which also tore up a sidewalk and knocked out power in the neighborhood, Hall said.
“It corroded itself so the sidewalk is all ripped off,” said Hall. “I would be upset if it was my house.”
In addition, a portion of Commercial Street, at the railroad bridge, was heavily damaged by an overflowing manhole. The road was still blocked off Friday afternoon as crews worked to repair the damage, Hall said.
“The storm came through at about 7:30 p.m. (Thursday) and it was really heavy and intense rain and wind and it was over quickly,” said Hall. “(The damage) seemed to be pretty widespread. Most of it has been taken care of.”
The trees that were not cleaned up on Friday were pushed to the side and will be taken care of on Monday, said Hall, who characterized the storm as one that was not expected.
“The weather looked fairly clear and this thing kind of came up out of the blue,” said Hall.
The storm also came as a surprise to Gino Cresta, DPW director and assistant town administrator in Swampscott.
But Cresta said the town of Swampscott was fortunate in that there was no property damage from the storm. There were about 50 to 100 tree branches scattered throughout the town, but not one total tree was knocked down, he said.
“(There were) very good-sized branches, but no full trees,” said Cresta. “I think we were fortunate compared to some of our neighbors.”
Lynnfield and Nahant were also spared from Friday night’s storm, according to town officials.
“I don’t think we had a single call to the fire department, so I would have to say that I am not aware of any storm-related damage,” said Lynnfield Fire Chief Glenn Davis. “I know the storm hit some areas, and not others, so we were one of the ones who were spared.”
Nahant Town Administrator Antonio Barletta said the town experienced temporary minor flooding near the Lynnway Rotary, but otherwise remained relatively unscathed.
“It hit us quickly, but it mostly missed us,” said Barletta. “I think we were really the southern part of it. It seemed like it hit Swampscott, Salem more so than it hit Nahant.”
Officials in Peabody and Saugus did not return phone calls seeking comment by press time.
Item reporters Elyse Carmosino and Anne Marie Tobin contributed to this report.
