City Ice

Want to shut this state down? Bring everything to a halt? Send in the ice. I think it was around 1974 that we got hit with some very strange weather. We had a typical Maine winter snowstorm that without warning turned into to a soaking deluge of rain. I mean it rained, and rained and rained some more. Then before the plows could get out and do their thing, we got a flash freeze. The roads turned into solid ice about 6 inches thick in some places. It was crazy! Many of the streets in the city were impassable, with vehicles parked on both sides. There was only room for a single car to negotiate a passage at a time. Some streets were actually closed. Streets were deep-rutted, frozen masses of ice. The Portland schools were closed for 9 days it was so bad. Even for me, it's hard to image that a city could be brought to its knees so fast like this, but it happened. Out our way, I can't remember losing power. I don't think we did. The storm was one of those freaks of nature that comes from out of the blue. The damage was done before anyone had a chance to prepare. It caught everyone by surprise. Plow trucks were rendered useless. The city just had to wait for a thaw, and mother nature took her sweet time.
Ice can do that.
Yes, it can!