Thunderstorms Knock Out Power, Ends Seacoast Heat Wave

Most power was restored to Seacoast customers after a powerful line of thunderstorms moved through late Wednesday afternoon that knocked out power to thousands as trees and branches fell onto power lines.

The biggest impact of the storm was gusty winds that resulted in over 25,000 utility customers across southern New Hampshire without power. As of 10 p.m., 8,000 utility customers were reported without power, according to their respective outage maps.

As of 4 a.m. most power had been restored for Eversource and New Hampshire Electric Co-op customers.  About 114 Unitil customers in Atkinson, Danville and Hampton Falls remained without power because of an "equipment issue."  Power was expected to be restored between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. according to the utility's outage map.

The storms caused a large tree to fall on a house on Westside Drive in Atkinson leaving it uninhabitable, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Hunter Tubbs.

More trees were also reported down in Kingston while the Exeter Fire Department reported a tree into a house on Harvard Street on its Facebook page.

There were also reports of hail up nearly two inches in diameter that fell in some spots plus vivid lightning, according to Tubbs.

"There was a lot of lightning with the storms. They were highly electrified storms, Tubbs said. Photographer AJ St. Hilaire saw lightning hit a tree in Milton.

"There was a lightning strike to a tree and it spread to the brush and a shed," St. Hilaire told Seacoast Current.

Hampton Beach postponed Wednesday night's fireworks display to Friday night because of the storms.

The storms also brought the month's second heatwave to an end as temperatures drop back into the 80s.

"The heat is over although we'll be a little on the humid side. By Friday we're only going to have highs around 70 so it's going to be a lot cooler," Tubbs said.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH