Lake Erie homes completely encased in ice in upstate New York
People along part of the Lake Erie shoreline in New York State may be forgiven for thinking Elsa from 'Frozen' was practicing her ice powers in their towns.
Numerous homes and structures near the shore are encased in a thick jacket of ice, making for some picturebook-perfect scenes that will be a serious headache for homeowners.
Lake Erie, typically one of the Great Lakes that freezes faster and more thoroughly than most of its fellows, is actually less than 10 per cent frozen due to this winter's frequent stretches of milder-than-normal temperatures. So when strong winds in recent days blew over the open water, it whipped up the surf and blew it onto shoreline structures, where they rapidly froze.
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As we said, it looks pretty enough, it causes real hassles for homeowners. Almost a metre thick in some places, the heavy ice makes structure collapse and other damages more likely, to say nothing of just trying to get in and out of the homes.
"I actually had to go out a secondary door and then chisel my way back into the house by breaking the ice," Ed Mis, in Hoover Beach, New York, told broadcaster WHTR.
Below is a selection of Tweets showing how the situation has played out so far.
Thumbnail courtesy of John Kucko.
