Haunting images show buildings encased in ice in upstate NY

Explore More

It’s now lake eerie.

Haunting video and images show buildings on the edge of Lake Erie in upstate New York completely encased in ice — including monstrous-looking icicles stretching several feet long.

One drone video sweeping through the Buffalo suburb of Hamburg starts harmlessly with a view of the town clock tower covered in snow after the Christmas storm that Gov. Kathy Hochul called “the blizzard of the century.”

But as the camera sweeps along the edges of Lake Erie, it quickly shows almost apocalyptic scenes of the buildings covered by creepy-looking giant icicles, completely covering any windows, doors or balconies.

“Those houses look like they’re from the movie ‘The Day After Tomorrow,'” one person wrote on social media, comparing it to the 2004 disaster movie. “Insane!”

Only those buildings on the water’s edge appear to be encased — with those behind it looking like business as usual.

1 of 9

Advertisement

Another video shows Hoak’s Lakeshore Restaurant in the Buffalo suburb enveloped in a chilling curtain of giant, twisting icicles.

“It started on Friday, I’d say probably around eight or nine in the morning,” owner Kevin Hoak said while standing outside his icicle-covered restaurant.

He said heavy storm winds splashed lake water over the buildings — quickly turning to ice as the “bomb apocalypse” dramatically plunged temps from “45 degrees to about 12 degrees.”

Remarkably, Hoak said his business was not only unharmed by the freak weather coating — it was actually shielded by it.

Follow all the coverage of the deadly winter storm in western New York

“It actually protected the restaurant by dropping so low in temperature, because it is acting as a barrier, protecting the restaurant foundation,” Hoak said — with only the parking lot getting “beat up pretty bad.”

1 of 14

Initial surveys suggest that “nothing broke — no windows broke, no leaks,” he said, with even new flooring undamaged. Only the “parking lot got beat up pretty bad,” he said.

It comes as the death toll in the Erie area surpassed 30, making it even deadlier than the historic Blizzard of 1977, which was blamed for killing as many as 29 people.

Erie County County Executive Mark Poloncarz called it “the worst storm probably in our lifetime,” even for an area known for heavy snow.

The snow was forecast to continue Tuesday, with as much as 2 inches predicted to fall in the devastated region.

ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3N7kGtma29fna62utOipaBlmaKuqLHSZqqhp6dir7a1y52gp5%2BjYrKvr8CsnJ1lmaN6qq%2FEZqCnZaWlwLWt055kp7Ff