Shelters and emergency operation centers shut their doors, National Guardsmen went home and children planned for trick-or-treat, as New Hampshire started to wind down its response to former Hurricane Sandy.

Still, the massive storm, which brought wind gusts of 50 mph to the Seacoast and heavy downpours inland, produced impacts felt across the state. A Woodstock resident died in a mud slide attributed to heavy rains Tuesday morning; a Windham resident was seriously hurt when a tree fell on his car a day earlier.

And officials rated Sandy the fourth worst storm in terms of power outages; 137,500 Granite State homes and businesses remained without power Tuesday evening but by Wednesday morning, the number had dropped to about 75,500. New Hampshire Electric Cooperative predicted it would have power restored to nearly all customers by the end of the day Saturday; officials at Public Service of New Hampshire said they didn't want to make a prediction, but hinted it could be three to four days before all its customers had power.

But no roads or public buildings were seriously damaged, and officials acted as if New Hampshire had ducked this one.

"We came out of this pretty well for the most part," said Jim Van Dongen, a spokesman for the state Emergency Management Operations Center, which will remain open despite the closure of the Manchester center Tuesday afternoon. "It's all down to (restoring) power and (opening) roads," he said.

The state's two largest cities said trick-or-treat would go forward as planned tonight; the Manchester suburb of Londonderry pushed it back to Sunday.

"Neither the families seeking to enjoy the fun of Halloween, nor those working hard to restore power for us should be inhibited in their efforts," said Londonderry Police Chief Bill Hart. (See NewHampshire.com for more trick-or-treat times.)

Storm-related death

The southern parts of the state were the heaviest hit. As of Tuesday night, large portions of Pelham, Atkinson, Fremont and Hampstead were without power, according to power company websites. Milford lacked power for much of the day to its Oval.

In the afternoon, President Obama approved Gov. John Lynch's request for direct federal emergency assistance.

"The high winds and heavy rains caused widespread power outages, local flooding and temporarily shut down dozens of state and local roadways in counties across the state," said Lynch, whose rapidly closing tenure as governor was marked by high-profile on-scene visits to flood-damaged areas.

The one storm-related death took place in Lincoln, where a hillside gave way as a worker was preparing to pump stormwater out of a hole dug for a foundation. Lincoln Police Chief Theodore Smith said he fell and was swept about two stories down in a slide of mud, rocks and water.

"With all this rain, basically the ground liquefies," Smith said Tuesday morning. Police were withholding his name until relatives are notified.

In Windham, William Deluca III was seriously injured when a tree fell on his vehicle. He remains in Massachusetts General Hospital.

Wind and rain

Online data at the National Weather Service show that the Portsmouth and Rochester areas recorded gusts of slightly more than 50 mph.

Weather-monitoring equipment at the Manchester airport recorded a 49 mph blast about 7 p.m. Nashua and Laconia recorded gusts in the mid-40 mph range about 10 p.m.

Airports in the Manchester, Laconia and Portsmouth area recorded rainfall of 1.2 inches; Nashua recorded 2.3 inches. The Cheshire County town of Jaffrey, whose highest wind gust was 33 mph, recorded 3.5 inches of rain.

"We can handle 3 inches. It just depends on how fast it comes down and how saturated the ground is," Van Dongen said.

Belmont firefighters had their own emergency to deal with.

About 8 p.m., members of the department were sitting at a table when they heard a loud noise, Fire Chief David Parenti said.

"It was exciting at first; we didn't know what was going on," he said.

A gust of wind had flipped to one side a section of the station's metal roofing. The roof was repaired Tuesday morning, the chief said.

Some rivers in the White Mountains grew quickly. The Saco River near Conway reached 9.8 feet at 4 p.m. Tuesday, but was expected to fall below its 9-foot flood stage late Tuesday night.

Although several communities opened shelters Monday, most of them closed Tuesday. Londonderry, meanwhile, is opening a shelter at 4 p.m. today, in order for residents to shower.

The one National Guard mission involved transporting shelter supplies to Hooksett on Monday, Van Dongen said. The 100 Guardsmen and women, activated by Lynch on Sunday, were sent home Tuesday.

Union Leader Correspondents April Guilmet, Nancy Bean Foster and Dan Seufert contributed to this report.

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Mark Hayward may be reached at mhayward@unionleader.com.