What do you remember from the big ice storm of 2005?

Russ Crawford, professor of history at Ohio Northern University, wants to hear your story.

He invites Icon viewers with particular stories about the storm to contact him. 

His Oral History class is currently conducting interviews with local residents about the storm.

“I look forward to anyone interested to get in touch with me, and I will assign one of my students to do the interview,” he said.

Contact Crawford at: [email protected].

In case your forgot, here’s a summary of the storm:
Low pressure over Missouri moved rapidly northeast on Jan. 5, 2005, reaching eastern Ohio early on the 6th. It was responsible for producing a prolonged period of freezing rain. The hardest hit locations were west of Interstate 71 along the U.S. Route 30 corridor.

The devastating and historic winter storm affected northern Ohio. Significant ice accumulations occurred over most of the area downing thousands of trees, causing widespread power outages and making travel nearly impossible

Ice accumulations of greater than three quarters of an inch were reported from Hancock County eastward across Wyandot, Crawford, Richland and Ashland Counties.

Northern sections of Wyandot and Marion Counties along with the southern halves of Seneca and Huron County were also hard hit.

Up to 80 percent of electric customers in these nine counties lost service during the storm, some for as much as 10 days.

Clean up and repair costs for this storm were among the highest ever recorded for a natural disaster in Ohio. Damage in many counties topped $1 million with a couple counties exceeding $10 million in losses.