A circus tent collapsed when a severe storm raked a northern New Hampshire fairground Monday, killing two people and injuring 15 others, authorities said.
WMUR-TV reported that state Department of Safety spokesman Michael Todd confirmed the fatalities.
The accident happened Monday evening at the Lancaster fairgrounds, about 90 miles north of the state capital in Concord. Sarasota, FL-based Walker International Events was scheduled to do two shows Monday before moving on to Vermont on Tuesday. The company did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday night.
State police say it’s unclear exactly how many people were hurt but up to 250 people were in the tent when it collapsed.
Gov. Maggie Hassan said state officials are monitoring the situation.
The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the area during the time of the collapse.
The collapse comes a day after one man died and more than a dozen were injured when a tent where people had sought shelter during a brief storm blew off its moorings and fell on some of the crowd at a festival in a Chicago suburb. The annual celebration known as the Prairie Fest had attracted about 5,000 people when the tent collapsed.
The popular Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago’s Grant Park briefly shut down Sunday afternoon due to the weather, then resumed less than an hour later. Organizers ended the final day of the festival 30 minutes early Sunday night when another storm hit the area.
