March 25, 1976
NY: worst ice storm in memory in western NY
Presidential disasters in Chautauqua, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, and Wyoming Cos.
150,000 without power; some outages lasted 10 days
PA: power outages to more than 11,000 homes in Erie County
worst since the late 1950s
Key:
ice load (in.), wind speed (mph)
x = no weather data
Storm Data
3/23/76
NEW YORK
Western Finger Lakes Counties and extreme Western NY
[1/3, 5, 21, 22]
(Ice Storm)
IC5
March 1976
The worst ice storm in memory paralyzed much of Western NY. Freezing rain began early morn-
ing of the 2nd and ended about noon on the 3rd. One report said ice was 4 in. thick. The follow-
ing counties were declared major disaster areas by President Ford: Chautauqua, Genesee, Living-
ston, Monroe, and Wyoming. One person was killed and one seriously injured in the Town of
Evans when their car skidded on ice. One third of trees in Buffalo alone were badly damaged by
weight of ice. Massive damage to electrical power lines caused major blackouts. Some blackouts
60
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