BOSTON -- A line of severe thunderstorms and fierce winds, possibly a tornado, moved across the New England region Thursday, crushing homes, downing trees and power lines and trapping residents in several central New Hampshire communities, where there was one report of a death caused by the storms.

New Hampshire's Gov. John Lynch declared a state of emergency for five counties and called out the National Guard.

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In Epsom, N.H., one of the hardest-hit towns, officials said between 50 and 100 homes in the area were damaged. The body of Brenda Stevens, 57, was found inside her collapsed home. Her husband and an infant survived the collapse, according to State Fire Marshal Bill Degnam.

"There is a problem; an infant was taken to the hospital that was trapped inside the house and, from what I can gather, they still can't locate one of the people that was trapped inside the house," said Epsom resident Barbara Noonan earlier Thursday. She watched the storm sweep through her neighborhood just before noon.

Noonan said she was in her yard about 11:30 a.m. when she heard a sound like a freight train coming. She ran in her house and told her family to get in the basement.

"The winds were incredible; they were picking things up and lifting them everywhere. They were going in every which direction and it lasted maybe two or three minutes. But it came through and down the road from where I live, it imploded a house and people were trapped inside of it," Noonan said.

Emergency officials in New Hampshire reported collapsed houses on the north shore of Northwood Lake in the areas of Sleepy Hollow Lane and Lakeshore Road in Epsom, N.H. They said some seven communities in Strafford County were affected by the storm, including New Durham, Alton, Deerfield, Barnstead, Epsom and Northwood.

"I remember I crouched in a corner and thought, 'I am in New Hampshire ... how come there is a tornado here?' It was surreal. It was scary," said Kate Meehan, of Barnstead.

"I've never seen anything like it. There's trees down everywhere. We can't get in, we can't get out. Heavy, heavy, heavy rain. It was unbelievable," Noonan said.

She said she never heard any tornado sirens.

"It was just unbelievable how the winds were whipping everything around and carrying things. It picked up my gas grill and carried it across the porch, and I have a huge gas grill," Noonan said.

Noonan said residents were evacuated by boat because of downed power lines across the roads. There were no immediate official reports of any serious injuries, although some people were reportedly trapped in cars beneath fallen power lines in Alton, N.H.

"The damage that we've seen has been damaged buildings, trees uprooted, power lines down, roads blocked, that sort of thing," said Jim Van Dongen, New Hampshire's Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

"We've issued two tornado warnings," said Kirk Apffel of the National Weather Service. "We've received numerous damage reports ... I do understand that a house is badly damaged and we also had a resident there that reported seeing a tornado. In order for us to make a final call, we'll have to send a damage team down to survey the damage. But right now we do understand there's some pretty bad damage in the area."

The most seriously affected area included southeastern Belknap County and northwestern Strafford County in central New Hampshire.

At 11:38 a.m. the National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado 13 miles southwest of Farmington, moving northeast at 45 mph.

The New Hampshire warning was lifted at 12:15 p.m., but as the line of heavy thunderstorms moved east, the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine, reactivated the warning, for southwestern Oxford County and eastern Carroll County in northern New Hampshire.

No official sighting of any rotation or tornado was reported.

The safest place to be during a tornado is in a basement. Residents are advised to get under heavy or sturdy furniture. If no basement is available, the lowest floor of a building is where people should take refuge, in an interior hallway or closet.

People should stay away from windows.

Those in mobile homes or vehicles should evacuate and take shelter in more substantial buildings. If no shelter is available, people should take cover in a ditch or low spot.