Ice tsunami knocks over houses in Canada

  • Breaking
  • 13/05/2013

A massive ice wave has ploughed through lakeside cottages in Canada and the United States, near the border.

The ice tsunami was up to 3m high and had some residents fleeing for their lives.

The ice wave came ashore like a slow-motion, frozen tsunami. At first it tinkered its way across front lawns, before it shunted towards homes and cottages on a Canadian lakefront.

"It was just a big roar and you could see it coming, and you keep thinking 'it's not coming any farther – it's going to stop', but it just kept on coming," says cottage owner Myles Haverluck.

The brown ice sheet ploughed across the frozen water, blown by strong winds. Some of the peaks were 3m in the air. It's something that is rarely seen.

"I saw the ice just coming, just moving so quickly," says Ochre Beach resident Donna Billows.

At Ochre Beach at Canada's Lake Dauphin, a wall of ice smashed its way through a dozen summer cottages.

"The ice has come on this property historically over the years but never this close," says Dennis Stykalo, whose holiday home was destroyed.

The wind was so fierce it drove the ice up as high as the roof, and went over the top of others.

"The ice came right through the living room," says Ms Billows. "He said, 'Grab your purse. Grab whatever you can. Get the keys. We've got to get out of here.'"

Residents are left to clean up the icy mess as diggers burrow through the spring thaw, trying to get ready for the fishing season in the summer.

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source: newshub archive