Forecast brings back memory of Connecticut’s ice storm of 1973

This weekend’s anticipated winter storm has some Connecticut residents remembering the last time a major ice storm froze the whole state, the ice storm of 1973.

News 12 Staff

Jan 18, 2019, 11:12 PM

Updated 2,087 days ago

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This weekend’s anticipated winter storm has some Connecticut residents remembering the last time a major ice storm froze the whole state, the ice storm of 1973.
The forecast of a possible ice storm this weekend is bringing some residents all the way back to December of that year, when the state saw its worst ice storm since the 1950s.
Folks at the Westport senior center say the state ground to a halt for days.
Paul Sorge remembers feeling lucky he only lost power during the storm.

"It was very, very bad. And the total damage was enormous," says Sorge. "People in New Canaan literally got wiped out.”
Tor Sporre found silver linings in the seafood washed up by the storm.
"Compo Beach was like an island, you couldn't come in, you couldn't go out, no TV or heat, of course,” says Sporre. “We had lobster three times a day. They were just all laying there.”

Sporre also recalls the forced quality time with the family.
"You had to focus inward,” says Sporre. “Which I think is needed these days."
If the storm this weekend does turn serious, Sorge thinks the region is better equipped to handle it than in 1973.
"We could possibly have another storm like that, but I think the utility companies are a lot better shape than they were then, probably,” says Sorge.