The sun was out and shining brightly Friday, permitting a full assessment and clean up following a powerful storm that a day earlier spawned a tornado that claimed a life, damaged hundreds of homes and that cut what public safety officials said was an "interstate-wide" swath of destruction as it barrel through nine communities in the state.

That swath included Deerfield — five miles northwest of which the National Weather Service said a tornado touched down and where Brenda Stevens, 57, was killed when her house collapsed — as well as Epsom, Barnstead, Alton, New Durham, Effingham, Wolfeboro, Freedom and Ossipee.

Remarkably, seemingly no one was seriously injured in the storm, according to authorities, some of whom cited the fact that many people may have been at work when it struck.

NWS teams were expected to survey the entire affected area to determine whether the cause of the damage was a tornado, straight-line winds or a microburst.

Meteorologist Kirk Apfell said whatever the final answer is, all the activity was from a single storm cell that the NWS and he and New Hampshire emergency response officials had been monitoring and makings plans for since Wednesday.

The high level of planning and response by local, state and even federal agencies struck Gov. John Lynch who, on Friday morning, visited the hardest hit areas in Epsom, Deerfield and Barnstead, including Locke Lake.

Lynch extended sympathy to Stevens's family and said he was touched by how many people were affected by the storm.

"A lot of people have had their lives turned upside down," said Lynch.

From what he saw on the ground, the governor concluded that the storm was "very intense, but it is just amazing that there weren't more fatalities and injuries."

It was too early to determine the how much damage the storm caused and how much it will cost to rebuild after it, but Lynch predicted that it would be "significant." He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been in New Hampshire since Thursday evening and will come up with a dollar amount.

DARYL CARLSON/CITIZEN PHOTO GREGG DELUCA, right, discusses the destruction Thursday's tornado left in his Barnstead community with Gov. John Lynch and Sen. Carol Shea-Porter during a tour of the Locke Lake area on Friday. Click here to view Foster's prints for sale

Lynch will likely seek a disaster declaration from President Bush, which would allow eligible residents to apply for federal financial assistance.

The governor praised emergency responders, who, he said, did "a remarkable job" to help storm victims.

The number of potential victims could have been much higher in Barnstead had the storm tracked a little more to the west and hit a more-densely-populated part of the town, said K.G. Lockwood, deputy chief of the Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid.

The LRMFA and town officials set up an emergency operations center in Barnstead, where some 100 out-of-town firefighters converged to help their comrades.

Barnstead Fire Chief George Krause said while several residents had to be extricated from their homes, none had been injured until Friday morning during the course of cleaning-up their property.

A lifelong Barnstead resident, Krause said he was around for the tornado that hit the town in 1999, but said Thursday's storm, was even scarier and, in fact, it was "probably the worst natural disaster I've ever seen."

It was also arguably one of the best responses to a disaster that Krause has ever seen, with more than 20 departments sending 110 firefighters and 39 pieces of apparatus, including heavy and specialized equipment.

The chief warned Barnstead residents to be careful in using portable generators — there were still power outages in parts of Barnstead as of Friday afternoon — to watch out for leaking propane tanks and to treat all downed power lines as if they were live.

Anyone who needs help or more information is asked to call the Barnstead Fire at 269-1157.

DARYL CARLSON/CITIZEN PHOTO GREGG DELUCA, left, discusses the devastation a tornado left in his Barnstead community with Gov. John Lynch, Sen. Carol Shea-Porter and Sen Paul Hodes during a tour of the Locke Lake area Friday. Click here to view Foster's prints for sale

Over in Alton, Assistant Fire Chief Scott Williams, like Krause and Lockwood, was counting his blessings, such as they were.

One person suffered a minor injury Thursday after the storm but other than that there were no other injuries to report, said Scott.

Alton firefighters were compiling a damage report and as of mid-afternoon, the number of damaged houses stood at 40 with the possibility, however, that the number could rise to 100, said Williams. He added that an emergency shelter had been opened Thursday at Prospect Mountain High School but wasn't sure that anyone had spent the night there.

Williams recalled that the storm came on incredibly fast. A tornado warning had been issued at 11:57 a.m. Thursday "and the first call came in at 12:02."

"It's amazing that people in their homes, people outside were not hurt," said Williams. "It just blows my mind."