Downed Trees and Power Lines Blocking Roads

A Department of Transportation worker clears the road of trees felled by the ice storm in Center Barnstead. (Elaine Grant, NHPR)

(sounds of motor starting)

On Route 126 in Center Barnstead, a Department of Transportation road crew struggled to get its pole cutter working.

The three men, looking exhausted, were clearing branches off of a power line.

This was the very site on 126 where the tornado touched down in July, snapping trees and destroying a barn. Now, it's hard to tell where damage from the tornado ends and ice storm debris begins.

The crew began working at 4:30 Thursday afternoon and worked overnight. They were encountering downed trees and lines every 50 feet, they said.

As of late this morning, Route 126 through Barnstead was open, but backroads throughout the state remain closed.

Bill Boynton of the Department of Transportation says road closures could continue for the next several days.

For NHPR News, I'm Elaine Grant.