Kites Follow

(Essdras Suarez/Globe Staff) Bob Bennett becomes overwhelmed with emotion after telling his 11-year old daughter over the phone that they no longer had a home and that their neighbor had perished when a storm hit their Epsom neighborhood. By Stephanie Ebbert and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff, and Christopher Baxter, Globe Correspondent A powerful storm tore through at least a half dozen towns in southeastern New Hampshire today, toppling trees, knocking out power, and damaging buildings, a state emergency management agency spokesman said today. At least one person was killed. Jim Van Dongen, a spokesman for the New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, confirmed that one person was killed when a house collapsed in the town of Epsom. He was not able to release the identity of the victim or the house's location. He said other people had been injured, but he did not know how many. New Hampshire Governor John Lynch said the storm destroyed at least a half dozen homes and damaged at least 100. "The safety of families and individuals is our highest priority," he said, speaking to reporters after viewing the damaged area from a State Police helicopter. Reports of damage from high winds came in just before noon from the Deerfield and Epsom area, said Van Dongen. He said it wasn't clear if the storm that hit the southern part of Strafford County was a tornado. He said about seven communities had been affected as the storm "cut a swath of damage" from the Deerfield-Epsom area to the area near Wolfeboro and Alton. Lynch said the swath of damage stretched to New Durham. The governor declared a state of emergency in Strafford County, as well as Belknap, Carroll, Merrimack, and Rockingham counties. About a dozen National Guardsmen were en route to Epsom to assist local officials, said Lynch's press secretary, Colin Manning. Karen Dail of Epsom said she was in a barn with a farrier shoeing her horse when the storm came. The farrier said, "My husband is from Texas and always says, 'If the sky turns green, there's a tornado coming,'" Dail recounted. "When we looked out, it was getting green and you could see a funnel," Dail said. "You could see the clouds twisting on the road. ... Kayaks were hanging like kites in the woods."