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Beverly battered; Gordon College campers just dodge disaster

BEVERLY - A powerful thunderstorm rolled through the North Shore and caused heavy damage to some communities as large branches, and even some whole trees, gave way to strong winds.

Beverly took the brunt of the storm's wrath as firefighters responded to almost two dozen calls, including downed power lines, flooded streets and reports of lightning strikes. But that doesn't mean other communities got off easy.

r A lightning strike sparked a three-alarm fire at an apartment building at the Highlands at Dearborn apartment complex in Peabody near Route 1.

r At Gordon College in Wenham, three staff members from the college's La Vida Adventure Camp were sent to Beverly Hospital as a precaution after they were nearly struck by lightning in Magnolia.

College spokeswoman Kristin Schwabauer said the lightning hit a tree about 15 feet behind the staffers as they were retrieving equipment from a rock-climbing area known as Red Rock.

The staff members were not seriously injured but suffered "residual effects" from the nearby lightning strike, Schwabauer said. Two of them were treated and released at Beverly Hospital. A third was being monitored at the hospital as of last night, but was in stable condition, Schwabauer said.

None of the 14 children attending the camp was injured, Schwabauer said. She said the campers, who are ages 14 and 15, and a fourth staff member were in the camp's minibus a safe distance away when the lightning struck.

Schwabauer said staff members at Gordon College called the camp staff members by cell phone to warn them of the coming storm. The campers were all off the rock-climbing area 15 to 20 minutes before the storm hit, she said.

Schwabauer would not release the names of the staff members who were taken to the hospital.

In Beverly, a large tree branch fell on a man outside his home on Dodge Street. The man, who lives at 10 Dodge St., was taken to Beverly Hospital by Northeast Regional Ambulance.

"Responding to several incidents proved to be its own challenge," Beverly fire Capt. Peter O'Connor said. "With large trees down across the city and water pooling up in several areas, many roads were impassable, including Essex Street near the YMCA."

The region saw more than a quarter-inch of rain in the handful of minutes it took for the storm to pass through, according to National Weather Service data from Beverly Airport. Maximum wind gusts clocked in at 30 mph, and there were reports of penny-size hail.

There were also reports of lightning.

Just ask Joe Caron, who was sitting in his living room on King Terrace in North Beverly. He heard a crack and saw a flash of lightning through his sliding glass doors. When he looked outside, he spotted a 4-inch-wide white strip in the bark of a 30-foot-tall ash tree in his backyard.

"It stripped the bark from the top of the tree all the way to the bottom," he said.

Caron said the tree appeared to be in no danger of toppling over.