Local

Hollis man nearly crushed by falling trees in severe storm

HOLLIS, N.H. — Zack Leishman had just hopped into his truck to head back to work when the world came crashing down.

“If I backed up and and that tree came down it would have killed me. I would have been dead,” Leishman said.

A powerful storm rocked Hollis Friday afternoon, bringing down power lines and dozens of trees onto homes and cars near Silver Lake State Park. Leishman said he was just about to put his truck into reverse when two pines and live power lines crashed into his roof and windshield. Leishman came inches from being crushed.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before and I’m 26 years old,” Leishman sad. “I mean this tops the ice storms. The ice storms are bad but this is the worst.”

An untold number of homes were damaged by the storm, which was not “tornadic in nature,” according to Fire Chief George Boggis. As many as seven roads through Hollis were closed Friday afternoon.

“The area most affected was the area around Silver Lake State Park including several surrounding road,” Boggis said. “A large amount of trees, wires and utility poles came down, making many of the local roads impassable.”

Frank Mihalek’s Nissan sedan was crushed by a fallen tree.

“I was so scared by it, I’m not sure whether I heard it or if that was my heart pounding,” Mihalek said.

Mike O’Neill spent Friday night removing large branches off his roof after six large pines fell near his home on Hanson Way.

“It’s unfortunate,” O’Neill said. “There’s really only a couple holes in the roof. We got relatively lucky, which it doesn’t look like it. Most of them missed.”

The Hollis Police Dept. said there were no reports of any injuries.

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