By Tim Binnall
Residents of a neighborhood in an upstate New York town on the shore of Lake Erie woke up to a wondrous and somewhat worrisome scene as winter conditions had coated their homes in a thick layer of ice. The breathtaking incident reportedly occurred in the community of Hamburg last Thursday thanks to a combination of frigid conditions and a powerful storm with strong winds that blew water from the lake onto nearby houses. Since the icing unfolded overnight, people living in the residences impacted by the event found themselves stuck inside their homes.
"I actually had to go out a secondary door and then chisel my way back into the house by breaking the ice," resident Ed Mis explained, amusingly musing about his frozen home "now I live in a cave." His neighbor wound up faring even worse, he said, as her home was almost completely covered by the thick frigid layering. Beyond immediate concerns like making sure people were not trapped, Mis noted that the neighborhood could face additional troubles in the next few days when the ice melts and flooding will likely ensue.
And, as if those issues weren't enough, people living in the neighborhood were faced with yet another problem: curious visitors drawn to the 'ice houses' after the story made national news over the weekend. It would seem that the influx of onlookers was considerable enough that the Hamburg police department was forced to issue a warning to the public about the "ice encapsulated buildings," noting that most of them are on private property and cautioning that trespassers caught in such spots would be arrested.