The Weight of the Ice: The Northeast Ice Storm of 2008

On the morning of Dec. 12, 2008 residents of the Northeast United States woke up to a devastated landscape and a terrible beauty. Over the night an inch of ice had fallen throughout a wide area that included Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Upstate New York. Much of the area was pushed pack into the 19th century as electricity and phones failed and water pumps and televisions stopped working. Tens of thousands of trees and utility lines blocked highways creating damage that took months to repair. In New Hampshire alone there was $75 million in damage to the electrical system. But the ice storm turned into an opportunity for neighbors to help each other out. Perfect strangers were welcomed into neighbors' homes and the ice-coated landscape became a photographer's paradise. This book, written by a reporter who covered the storm for months, captures every aspect of this unique storm. With 109 photos.