Wall of Ice Surges Out of Lake, Crushes Homes

Winter isn't finished with Canada's western Manitoba, where 50mph winds apparently drove a 30-foot wall of ice out of a lake and sent it smashing into the shore, destroying a dozen homes and damaging 15 more, the CBC reports. The small community near Winnipeg is under a state of emergency, but "fortunately, no one was hurt," a local official tells the Winnipeg Free Press. Homeowners "heard it before they saw it (the ice) coming up their decks. Then it came right in their front windows. It was just a matter of minutes. We were very lucky."

"You know you've got cement, concrete blocks, and steel, and the ice goes through it like it's just a toothpick," says one resident with a houseful of ice. "It just shows the power. There is nothing you can do, you just get out of the way and just watch." Adding to the devastation: A local insurance company says shoreline ice generally isn't covered. And the area had just recovered from severe flooding in 2011. Most residents "were just back in their homes again," says another official. "And now this has happened. So they're pretty devastated right now." (More Manitoba stories.)