Massachusetts Halloween Storm Damages Houses, Leaves People Without Power

PEMBROKE (CBS) -- The sound of chainsaws rang through the air the day after Halloween.

"We heard a tremendous explosion, and we jumped out of bed to see what it was," said Larry Trainer.

A 100-foot tree had split, and the top half had torpedoed into a sun-room off the back of his Pembroke home.

"You can't prepare yourself for something like this. It's extremely loud and extremely frightening," Trainer said.

In Douglas, a tree split Troy Kibbe's home right down the middle, waking him up at about midnight. "I hear a big smash coming through the wall," he said.

His cousin Greg had planned to sleep on the floor of the room where it happened. "My head would have been right here on an air mattress," he said, pointing to the tree.

By a stroke of luck, he spontaneously decided not to. "I feel like I escaped death for some reason," he said.

Elsewhere, the wind threw branches on power lines in Hopkinton and Milford. In the latter, traffic lights were dark and gas pumps were down.

"We can't open because we have no power," said the owner of Pizza 85, who worried about the food in his freezer.

Hundreds of thousands of New Englanders woke up to find they had no power in their homes and business Friday morning.

Despite the inconvenience and the close-calls, there were no injuries and no lives lost.