Haverhill’s Washington Square Christmas tree was one of the more visible victims of winter storm Elliott’s trek through the Merrimack Valley starting last Friday.
The tree, its base and a light pole at the Washington Square plaza were toppled by high winds. Worse off, though, were the hundreds of households without power, largely caused by hundred of downed tree limbs throughout the region. An electrical outage centered in the area of the Bradford Fire Station and Caleb Dustin Hunking School caused the fire station to turn to its emergency generator while hundreds of residents also remained without power overnight through Saturday afternoon.
Many East Broadway area households remained without power well into Christmas Eve.
Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini went on social media to report Haverhill Police hosted one elderly resident in its lobby and officers made the rounds to ensure homeless people found shelter.
Over the border, statewide, New Hampshire officials reported 6,000 households were still without power Christmas night. The State Emergency Operations Center returned to, what it called, “Steady State,” at Sunday night at 7.