Town, residents cleaning up the damages, estimated to be in the ‘tens of thousands.’

GORHAM – Gorham will be struggling for some time to clean up the aftermath of the tornado that struck the town July 21.

With winds up to 90 miles per hour, the storm flattened two barns and blew down an unknown number of trees. Bob Burns, director of Gorham Public Works, this week estimated public damage in the “tens of thousands,” counting all costs including Public Works Department man hours in clean up, loss of productivity, hired help from contractors and value of trees,

“It’s going to be a big loss,” Burns said.

But, “personal property damage far exceeds public property damage,” Burns said.

A report by the National Weather Service in Gray said the width of the tornado path was 350 yards and 5 miles long with an estimated wind speed of near 90 miles per hour in the area of Gorham Savings Bank headquarters, which is off Gray Road. It said the tornado initially touched down on Webster Road in Buxton. The weather service said the tornado traveled east on a semi-continuous path before lifting at the intersection of routes 237 and 25.

The tornado downed power lines, destroyed sheds and damaged multiple homes, according to the report. “The tornado snapped or uprooted thousands of trees along portions of its track,” the weather service reported.

“This is the first tornado that Cumberland County has seen since 2005. The tornado in Gorham was larger and more powerful than the one that moved through Brunswick in 2005,” said Eric Sawyer, planning assistant at Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency in Windham.

“The storm took a swath out of the town,” Dale Rines, a member of Gorham Parks and Conservation Committee, said Tuesday.

“It’s fortunate no one got hurt,” Burns said.

Two animals weren’t so lucky. A pregnant cow and a calf were crushed when a barn collapsed at the farm of Eddie and Becky Benson on Plummer Road.

“We rescued eight (cows),” Becky Benson said this week.

Fearing nails and other hardware, she said, salvaged hay stored in the barn wouldn’t be fit to be fed to cattle and would likely be good only for mulch.

Norman Justice of Wood Road, a former Town Council chairman who is now director of the facilities department for Gorham schools, lost a former hay barn in the storm, but his cattle were all in the pasture.

This week, the farms, which both have other barns, were weighing whether to replace the ones lost in the storm.

At the Mosher Farm, at the intersection of routes 25 and 237, high winds ripped limbs from trees in the yard, picked up a hay wagon and slammed it upside down and substantially damaged the corn crop. “You’re not going to have to be very tall to pick it,” Mosher said, injecting a bit of humor the morning after while eyeing damage.

Nellie Stirling of Gorham was working at Beal’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream at the intersection of routes 25 and 237 when the storm struck. She said the power went out and benches blew across the lawn.

“It was really scary,” Stirling said.

“The sky was dark and greenish and like hailing,” Stirling said.

Justice was in the kitchen and said glass jars starting falling from windowsills. He ran outside to grab a grill that had been fired up.

“I could see the funnel forming” toward Finn Parker Road, Justice said.

On his porch 50 feet away from the barn, he saw the tornado take down a tree and then his barn.

“It all happened so quickly,” Justice said. “It didn’t take me long to get back into the house.”

When the storm first hit, the Bensons unplugged appliances in their house.

“You couldn’t see the barns,” because of rain, Becky Benson said. “Water was blowing sideways.”

The wind downed the barn she thought was a century old. “It was very scary,” Becky Benson said.

Other roads receiving damage, according to the weather service report, included Finn Parker, Clay and Kimball roads, Lover’s Lane, Wentworth Drive and Route 237. Gorham Police Chief Ron Shepard said the Libby and Garden avenues area “got pummeled.”

“A huge swath. Snapped them (trees) right off,” Shepard said.

Citing power of the wind, Burns said it blew roofing from his home. “We had a window sucked out, frame and all,” Burns said.

The town-owned Chick property off Main Street and the Tannery Brook parcel off Gray Road received “significant tree blow-downs,” Burns said.

For homeowners, Burns said cleanup costs could run as high $300 to $500 per tree. He said for most property owners insurance, wouldn’t likely cover removal of trees blown down.

Burns said cleanup would take a “month of Sundays.” But, because of those “blow-downs and widow-makers,” Burns cautioned property owners cleaning up debris.

“Folks need to know it’s dangerous in the woods,” he said.

Benson said they owe a lot to the community, area businesses and friends who helped at the scene. “We’re so appreciative,” Becky Benson said, and counting “our many blessings.”

Last week’s tornado that ripped through Gorham flattened this barn at the farm of Norm Justice on Wood Road. Courtesy photo