ANDOVER, Mass. — Strong winds and heavy rains pounded Andover and Groveland Thursday afternoon, as both communities saw trees toppled and properties damaged.
In Andover, on Southridge Circle, resident Sharon Ahern ran for cover shortly before 3 p.m.
“I’ve never run to safety ever in any kind of storm, and I’ve grown up here all my life,” Ahern said. “And I ran to my basement, because it was that kind of scariness.”
The winds tore down a pine tree in her front yard and broke the screen door.
A few houses down, an uprooted tree tore up Don Levis’s driveway.
“It happened that fast. It was a matter of seconds,” Levis said. “I was actually looking out my back windows, and I could see a tremendous wind. I knew this wasn’t normal. This was bad. I could see the trees going down and branches snapping off.”
Other fallen trees on his property landed on his neighbor’s home. One rested on the roof; another wiped out a corner of the deck.
Aidan Durso came home from work to the damage.
“Life goes on,” Durso said. “Nothing bad happened, no one was hurt. Not too much major damage to the house.”
Meanwhile, over in Groveland, the flooded streets are now receded and the main concern is now, cleaning up all of the downed trees.
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"I heard the thunder and the rain came in and everything just went white," said resident Sean Fandel.
"I was working at the shop and all of a sudden my neighbors called and said you may want to come down," said resident Eddie Costello. "There's a tree in your house and I said 'Oh geez.'"
The trees didn’t discriminate, falling on top of houses, on top of a brand new fence, and on top of any powerlines or cars in the way.
"We believe a microburst came through and took down a good portion of my tree there and landed on my truck in the driveway," said resident Douglas Soper.
“There’s one back there one of the driveway six in total,” said Fandel as he counted the six downed trees in his back yard alone. “It was $7,500 first estimate so we will be getting some more estimates.”
"I have to call the insurance company and go from there," said Costello. "For now I'll just start chopping up some firewood."
No one was hurt and just about everyone has had their power restored.