Emergency personnel throughout Rockingham County were inundated with reports of trees and wires being toppled as the winds from Hurricane Sandy began cranking up shortly after 2 p.m.

The town of Epping opened its emergency operations center as soon as the trees began to fall by mid-afternoon.

“It’s busy. So far many trees are down with wires involved,” Epping police Capt. Jason Newman said.

Police and firefighters from many towns have been scrambling to keep up with the calls, which have been coming almost every minute.

Most of the reports involve trees falling on wires, in some cases sparking fires and causing transformers to explode.

Many roads are now blocked in several towns while in Sandown, a tree reportedly fell on a garage on Pillsbury Road, and in Portsmouth, a tree toppled onto a car on Middle Street.

Hampton Falls police reported most of the town was without power, including the area of Route 1.

In Exeter, Swasey Parkway was closed after the Squamscott River flooded the area.