'I think she was the angel'

It was a day of baby-sitting that ended in terror. Brenda Stevens was holding her stepson's child when the tornado struck. What came next was a tragedy - and a miracle.

DEERFIELD, N.H. - As a tornado barreled down on her log house Thursday, Brenda J. Stevens was holding her stepson's 3-month-old son, a friend said yesterday.

Her husband, Harley, came running down the stairs to try to help, said the friend, Robert Bennett, who spoke to Harley Stevens yesterday. But the storm tore through the house, blowing Harley Stevens outside.

When firefighters arrived, making their way past downed trees and power lines, they crawled through the wreckage and saw the body of 57-year-old Brenda Stevens. Then they heard cries, followed the sound, and found the baby. The boy was pinned under rubble, just a few feet from Brenda, but unscathed, according to Chief Stewart Yeaton of the Fire Department in neighboring Epsom.

"An act of God, I guess," he said.

Another friend, Kristin McGovern, added: "She was dead, but the baby was still alive. I think she was the angel."

Details of the death and rescue emerged yesterday as central New Hampshire began to recover from the violent storm, which spawned a tornado, torrential rains, and winds of up to 135 miles per hour.

Based on the damage, the Nation al Weather Service confirmed that the tornado hit nine towns, moving from Deerfield to Epsom, Barnstead, and Alton. Also struck were New Durham, Wolfeboro, Ossipee, Effingham, and Freedom.

Officials said major damage stretched 50 miles from Ossipee, which is northeast of Lake Winnipesaukee, to Deerfield, south of the lake.

All told, 200 homes were damaged and six destroyed, said James C. Van Dongen, a spokesman for the state Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

"A lot of people's lives have been changed forever," Yeaton said yesterday at a news conference in an open meadow in Epsom, where the tornado cut through the trees, split off their tops, and left a line of splintered branches.

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency surveyed the region yesterday, tallying the damage to determine whether residents will qualify for federal disaster aid.

Van Dongen said the state plans to apply for aid to individuals and assistance for debris removal. He said officials had not put a dollar figure on the damage.

"Most wind damage is typically covered by homeowners insurance, so we're encouraging people to immediately contact their insurance agents, take pictures, keep receipts," Van Dongen said.

Throughout the region, residents took in the scenes of destruction: missing roofs, broken windows, downed power lines.

Dover Road in Epsom was covered in leaves, branches, and trees. Some trees were split down the middle, revealing pale heartwood, and others stood like stakes, their tops chewed off by the storm.

In some places, it was hard to tell the trees from the houses. The grinding sound of chain saws was ever-present.

At Rita and Ronald Lambert's home on the shores of Northwood Lake in Epsom, the garage was crushed by a tree. Inside, the contents were tossed about, and the cinder block foundation was visible. A shed looked as if it had been picked up and dropped just feet away from its original location, which was marked by dark brown soil.

Carol Lambert, one of the couple's daughters, had taken her parents in for the night; they were not home when the storm hit. They came yesterday morning to assess the damage and found that a single branch had been driven 3 feet into the couple's bedroom wall.

"You see the pictures on TV, but it doesn't hit you until you get here," Carol Lambert said. "My mother is very teary-eyed, and I think my father is just overwhelmed."

Governor John Lynch toured Epsom, meeting with sweat-soaked residents in tank tops and baseball caps who were cleaning up debris in their yards.

"For the families who have lost everything, it's going to take months and months for them to get their lives back together," Lynch said.

McGovern said that when the tornado hit, Brenda Stevens, who had two daughters, was baby-sitting the 3-month-old son of one of her husband's two sons from a previous marriage.

Harley Stevens had minor injuries when he was blown from the house on Sleepy Hollow Lane, Yeaton said. "Lucky it didn't kill him," he added.

McGovern said Brenda Stevens never had time to escape.

"The house had just collapsed," she said in a telephone interview.

Firefighters used poles and inflatable airbags to lift the rubble and prevent it from collapsing further, Yeaton said. They found the infant and carried him to safety.

"It was responding," said Robert Blodgett, chairman of the Epsom Board of Selectmen, "and it was in pretty fair condition."

Yesterday, a shaken Harley Stevens returned to where his house had stood. The house was reduced to a pile of wood, its roof fallen to the side and intact. The garage was gone. Yeaton said it had been thrown 75 feet into Northwood Lake.

"The Stevens' house is totally destroyed, they lost everything," Lynch said after meeting with Harley Stevens. "He's just lost his wife. His heart is broken."

Family and friends mourned the woman who loved gardening and taking care of her grandchildren, Bennett said.

"Brenda was a sweetheart," he said. "It's hard to take. Going to [the funeral], it's going to be tough.

"She was just one hell of a super lady. You couldn't ask for a better person. She's just a super grandmother. Just a beautiful, caring, loving person."

Globe correspondent Jeannie M. Nuss contributed to this report.