NEW IPSWICH, N.H. (WHDH) - A powerful storm collapsed a tent on dozens of people during a controversial religious retreat in New Ipswich, New Hampshire on Sunday.
Torben Sondergaard, the founder of the organization The Last Reformation, posted a video of the aftermath as first responders helped people on the scene.
“I’ve never seen any wind like this,” he said in the video. “The wind just came and took everyone up. The tent, everything just went out.”
Six people suffered from minor injuries and four of them were hospitalized, according to New Ipswich Deputy Fire Chief Gary Somero.
Between 50 and 60 people who were in the tent during the storm escaped to a nearby barn.
“They were very lucky,” Somero said. “Given the severity of the storm, as soon as I pulled into the tent site, there was a lightning bolt that struck right in front of my pickup, and so the lightning was severe and it certainly could have been much worse.”
The Last Reformation received criticism for bringing hundreds of people together amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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