Recovery efforts continued in Concord Tuesday in the wake of a rare nighttime tornado with 100-mile-per-hour winds that cut a half-mile-long path of damage early Monday.
The tornado, classified as an EF1 by the National Weather Service, downed trees and power lines, and damaged 39 buildings, but caused no injuries or deaths, officials said. A worker for a private tree company was injured Monday night when he was struck in the head by a branch as he prepared to put it into a chipper.
Concord Police Chief Joseph F. O’Connor said Tuesday the worker was conscious and alert when taken to Emerson Hospital in Concord for treatment.
The storm also knocked out power to more than 1,000 residences, but as of Tuesday afternoon, crews from Concord Municipal Power and Light had restored power to all but four houses on streets that bore the brunt of the twister, officials said.
The utility said on Twitter that those four homes “need private work completed.”
Fire Chief Mark R. Cotreau said the town is making good progress on its recovery, and he is grateful that the powerful storm caused limited damage.
“It really is fortunate that we didn’t have any injuries or deaths. I think it’s safe to say it could have been a lot worse,’’ Cotreau said. “This storm really did create a major disruption for us, and cleanup was a challenge. But the fact that we didn’t have worse structural damage and, frankly, [had] no injuries or death — we are thankful for that.’’
O’Connor said officers are cautioning residents to be careful about who they hire to repair the damage. Since the storm abated, police have encountered people who claimed to be contractors but could not demonstrate they were licensed, he said.
In one instance, O’Connor said, his officers stopped two vans carrying four people who said they were heading into the Lexington Road neighborhood to offer their services. But when they could not provide the name of their company, officers sent them away.
“We are concerned about people who are not legitimate contractors . . . who will not provide reliable services to people,” O’Connor said.
He urged residents to check out contractors before hiring them, especially once the area is reopened to the public. Homeowners are responsible for clearing away fallen trees and other debris from their property, officials said.
According to the National Weather Service, the tornado reached estimated speeds of 100 miles per hour. It touched down near the Cambridge Turnpike around 3:20 a.m. and lifted about 10 minutes later, the weather service said.
“While there was some damage on the Cambridge Turnpike, most of the damage was concentrated beginning near the intersection of Lexington Road and Alcott Road to the neighborhood of Alcott and Independence roads where trees were uprooted or had the tops sheared off at the top,” forecasters said in an advisory. “It was evident that trees were blown down in opposite directions.”
The weather service said that “to the east of the tornado path was an approximately a 200-yard-wide path of straight line wind damage extending from Lexington Road west of Hawthorne to Edmonds Road.”
Lexington Road, which was closed by the huge volume of fallen trees and branches Monday, reopened Tuesday afternoon.
“Thank you to the hard working crews who have made that possible,” the town said on its official Twitter feed.
The recovery efforts on Tuesday coincided with the anniversary of a deadly tornado that cut a path from Sturbridge to Killingly, Conn., on Aug. 23, 1786, claiming the lives of two people and injuring five more, the weather service said.
By John R. Ellement and Travis Andersen GLOBE STAFF AUGUST 23, 2016
Photo by KERITH BEDFORD/GLOBE STAFF “Tree limbs were lifted from a yard in Concord.”
