Houses On Lake Erie Shore Covered In Ice After Wind Storm
on Mar 04, 2020
Like a scene right out of ‘Frozen,’ several homes that line Lake Erie’s Hoover Beach in Hamburg, New York, became encased in ice due to strong winds and high waves on the lake. The photos are a sight to behold, but for homeowners the phenomena is anything but enjoyable.
Local authorities say that unseasonably warm temperatures in the area caused 1 to 3 feet of ice to build up on the homes, forcing some occupants to chisel their way out. The lake would normally have some ice cover, therefore limiting the spray coming off of the water.
“So because of the high winds, there was an awful lot of spray coming off the lake,” Judy Levan, a National Weather Service meteorologist said. “Normally this time of year, we generally have more ice cover on the lake so we don’t have that much spray. The lake is generally a sheet of ice.”
Winds of 50 mph lasted approximately 16-18 hours, sending spray upon the shore and the houses nestled there. The result was a beautiful, but potentially dangerous sight as the weight of the ice could severely damage the homes or lead to their collapse.
“There’s really nowhere forward to go,” the town’s emergency manager Sean Crotty told TODAY. “A gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds, and when you look at all the ice that’s on these residences, we still have concerns for structural collapse…There’s still a potential for some substantial damage to occur.” The extent of the damage won’t be known until the ice melts.
This isn’t the first time that Hamburg, New York, has made the news due to this weather phenomena. A few years ago, a photo of an ice-covered car swept the internet.
See more footage from Hamburg, New York, in the video below.
