Our neighborhood lived on knickerbocker now on flower city walked around our streets what an eerie sounding walk. You could hear trees cracking but not see them fall. One thing was true, it was beautiful even though it was so damaging

I'm from Connecticut and worked for Asplundh Tree Experts at the time. My boss came out and told us to meet at a Rally point to head out for Rochester "for a couple of days" with only the clothes on our backs. I couldn't believe the devastation when we arrived. I was assigned to the Canadagyua / Middlesex area's doing mostly offroad work. We were out there for a solid month. The people I met out there were some of the most gracious warm people I've ever met.

I so remember this,!!!! No power for over a week...powerlines all over the roads,It took two days before I could drive to work.Thankz for sharing,!!!!

This is a gem. People will be able to see this 100 years from now. You’ve done a great service by posting this.

30 years ago! Although I missed the date by over a month - I know, sorry! But I only just thought about this today. What a standout event for our city though. That people have continued to reminisce on it throughout all these ensuing years really says something.

30 years ago to date.. I was about 11 years old this was the most beautiful and catastrophic weather event I'd ever seen in my life. I remember we got a week out of school; but we had to stay in the house because power lines and trees were down all over the place. We were lucky to have power and cable. I remember watching The Price is Right and breaking news broke about a motorist named Rodney King being beat half todeath.

I was in my 3rd year at SUNY Brockport during this time. I couldn’t believe it when we looked outside that morning. We were running around, trying to get as much beer & alcohol we could gather before everything was closed. What a great party! At least what I could remember.

Man this brings back memories!! I was a kid and was loving the fact that there was no school for like a week! Sledding through the woods behind my house was so surreal with all the ice on the trees.

During the first year I lived in Rochester, NY, this was the first ice storm I had ever encountered. Whenever there would be an ice storm of any kind, even when I live in a rural area, I often would fear it'd be bad as this ice storm of 1991. Hell, I still remember the ice storm that left us without electricity around Christmas of 2013 (the morning I had awakened, which was at 4:45 AM, our power had gone out). Even though ice was melting off the power lines and trees, it would be hours before power would be restored to my parents' house (which I resided at until I moved out in 2017 into my own apartment). All throughout that miserable day, I had to pray for a Christmas miracle. The Christmas miracle I was praying for was answered at 5 or 6 in the morning thereabouts the next day, when I noticed a light of the walk-in closet of my parents' bedroom being on, as well as a cable box's clock showing the current time. Is that some Christmas miracle or what? :)

Although you can't see it in the video, you drove right past my house on the corner of Dewey and Seneca Parkway. Cool video.

I lived in Rochester through the riots, blizzard of 66 & 77. Never seen anything the likes of that ice storm. Giving the devastation it was amazing how fast the city was restored to normal.

I remember every blade of grass had ice wrapped around it in our front yard.

At :50 is bennington apts I lived there at the time as a kid. I remember waking up to a tree on the window frozen.

I remember waking up before sunrise so cold and trying to turn on the space heater to warm up. Of course there was no power and hearing what sounded like thunder claps and realizing it was the trees. We called RG&E and they were a little short with us when I told them the power was out. LOL! They must have gotten quite a few calls. We lost power for a full week where I was. I remember after dawn thinking it was both so beautiful with the trees like crystal, but so horrible with all the destruction. Thanks for sharing your film.

Crazy small world, I grew up 2 streets over from where this video starts. I don't remember much of the ice storm but the whole city shit down for days and we had no power for over 10 days.

I was living in Idaho for college at the time, and watched all this on the weather channel. My mother lived in Charlotte at the time and had power the entire time, so she was hostess to many folks who needed a place to stay. When I came back home via 390, I was floored at how the trees were just mangled looking. Good to hear Bill Lowe's voice again. (not sure if I spelled that right)

Great video!I remember hearing strange cracking sounds In the early morning ,looking out the window and saying WTF!

Wow this video brought me back. I lived on Emerson st just around the corner from where you we're driving. Emerson runs into lake ave and you were on lake ave. I wanted to climb through the picture an walk to my house. I'd love to go back to the 80's and 90's. The world seemed like a much better place back then. Thanks for the memories. Awesome to take that ride with you.

I was 8. The sound was so eerie, all you heard was creaking, popping and a sound like really fresh rice krispie treats. Was on Lexington and Lake at the time and man it was bad in the city. Then neighbors got chainsaws and started cleaning up. Hah...just realized you are driving down Lake!

My Wife, our teenage daughter and I lived through this storm in Perinton, NY! We also endured the 2003 Ice Storm in Perinton. We lived in the same home for nearly forty years. As Seniors, we could no longer stay in such a large home; and also deal with harsh weather. Although we still have family in the Rochester area, we now live in the South! We enjoyed our life in Perinton, but it is much easier to not have to deal with tons of snow and ice. Thank you for uploading this video!

I was 6 when this happened... still remember it clear as day- walking out into the iced-over apocalypse in the morning and no electricity for days... thank you for posting, there aren't many ice storm '91 vids on youtube!!!

Very cool video, seeing so many things that are gone now 31 years later. Nice job.

Funny this video appears front and center in my KZfaq feed as we have a winter storm coming into Rochester on 12/22/22. I remember this night like it was yesterday. Bunch of friends and myself sitting on the porch on Harvard St and listening to the trees cracking and falling all night, then driving the city and surveying the damage in the morning. What a mess, never seen anything like it before. Hearing the trees cracking and falling was intense and nerve racking. Great video!!!

I got out of work at Kodak at 330 that morning and it took me 2 hours to get home. My parents were without power for 2 weeks.I will never forget it

BILL Lowe... man, memory's a tricky thing!

I was 12 and lived in the outskirts of Brockport when this happened. It was crazy! I think at one point we were ice skating in the street.

I was three years old. I played outside in this with my sister! We stayed at a friend's house for a week or so because our house had no power.

This was during my first birthday. I enjoyed watching my parents' footage, and now yours. Also, still living in Rochester, it is very interesting to see what it looked like then :) Crazy that I drive these streets every day and they looked so different then!

Hard to believe its been 20 years...

It was so bad I lived on Monroe Ave. Thank goodness we had power. I drove through this to pick up my nieces and nephews,in Canadagia from my parents House. We stayed in my Fiences apartment.

I remember this. My wife and I lived in Fernwood park apartments. The ice storm hit over night and I went to work the very next day because the power was on at work. It took me 20 minutes to figure out how to drive 15 blocks because so many trees and power lines were down blocking streets.

Living in the South I always imagined this is what a typical winter day in Rochester would look like.

The wiper sound makes me recall all the times I had to turn them on high and the heater up just to keep ice and snow from sticking to my windshield!!

COOL! I lived on Seneca Parkway at the time and this really brought it all back! Thanks!

wow. thanks for uploading this. i haven’t really seen casually filmed videos this clear of my town before i was born

I was in the first grade and I lived in a much older house than all of my relatives yet we were the only ones who didn't lose power.

we had a real bad one in Missouri and didn't have electricity for 14 days but thank God we made it through

I know all these areas like the back of my hand. I just just a wee little 2 year old when this all happened. Cool to see a video of what everything looked like.

thanks for posting, I remember going out to the doctors at strong memorial hospital and seeing everything frozen solid and ice hanging on everything, one if the most severe storms in rochester

I remember this as a kid in rochester; got about a week off from school and lost a lot of trees on our street. Our old street still doesn't look the same as before from the loss of trees.

i was 24 when it came. it was bad. did not loose any thing.thank god .i did help people that did.

I put 40 hours of overtime in that week working for the county. Might as well have worked no power at home.

I was there......ended up loving the people I was with way more, a direct result of spending lots of time with them.

You could have driven by my old house (on titus) and I would have never recognized it. Seriously, good watch though

This was wild! My daughter was one and friends came over to eat and shower because they had no power for so long. It was an insane storm!

The big building behind the peppermill on Ridge and Dewey WAS Kodak building 69, one of the R&D buildings. It was knocked down by Kodak a few years ago when they took down most of the rest of Kodak Park. There's video of the implosion of kodak building 65 and 69 here on youtube. Shame, it was a nice place.

Hi Paul. My middle son lives in Rochester, and he was telling me about the state of Rochester right now, with the wind storms. So I looked up something for him to see that my mum and dad went through, and came across your video on the first look. Small world. alex

Wow. I was just a kid at the time so it's neat to see how downtown was affected. I remember watching out the back window of my friend's house, looking at the woods and listening to all of the tree limbs cracking. Thanks for posting!

I remember this, I remember looking out my window in Canandaigua thinking YES no school today. Amazing experience to say the least, the sounds of trees breaking.. As bad as it sounds I almost wish this would happen again so I could experience it as an adult.

this was my first memory...i was 4 years old

Even smaller world: at the 2:48 mark, you film the apartment complex my nana and granda used to live in, when we lived on Pullman Ave !

I was 17. Spent several nights at my great aunt and uncle's house in South Byron.

Im 12 and i live in Rochester its pretty cool to see wjat it looked like during the ice story my mom has told me all about

As the polar vortex has been turning the outskirts of Buffalo into a giant milkshake this week, I am looking at footage of the 1991 ice storm. I have previously commented on this video already. We have some photos in our 1990-1991 album. At least the ice started to thaw out in the following days but there was still a ton of damage. I don't think the 2003 ice storm was as bad. Also, 2 days before the 91 storm hit, it was near 70 and sunny. Then that night, severe thunderstorms blew in, followed by freezing rain the next day. I remember the Friday before the 2003 ice storm, it was about 70 and super windy. But I don't think that had anything to do with it.

I was 6 when this happened and live in Brockport which is 20 min away from Rochester. No power for Weeks

This drives by my house 2 years before I buy it. Cool! What a mess though.

I remember this mess. There were trees and wires down where we were.

I lived this awful storm worst in Rochester ny history we had no power for two weeks

I'm watching this getting ready for the 2018 edition 😫

I lived through it. I was packed up and on my way down state again.

I was there when this hit. I now live in S.C.

I remember. I was a student at Brockport State College. My mom made my dad drive from Chili to get us as we had no electricity on campus. Then no electricity in Chili also. Lol

@FlyJupiter Yes, WHEC News 10 NBC

This is when WHAM went to all talk, if I recall correctly. Thank GOD they kept us all very well connected with what the BLEEP was going on. Truly this was not something I ever want to try to survive again. The storm was one thing, the aftermath, personal and public -- unbelievable nightmare.

Damn! I lost six trees, and power for four days...I've never seen anything like it, before or since. Let's hope we never do again...

that was something else .

Yes, I was in high school at the time.

I was living in Rochester, NY, when the ice storm occurred, but was on vacation in Australia at the time. How lucky was that? BTW, my house (on Pierpont Street) did not even lose power as my digital clocks were not blinking. However, there was some damage to the roof and gutters over my front porch that required professional repair.

i was born and raised in Rochester but at that time i was 5 years old and i was living in Jacksonville North Carolina for a year then we came back to Rochester

When a traffic signal is out, with no power, it should be treated as a 4-way STOP!

I chuckle because that statement makes me old

I didnt even realize they were on Dewey ave..everything so different

@TheVerdeCuervo Mee too, I was a junior at Penfield :)

(7/28/12) Yup we had to stay at my grandma's house too. I was almost 2 so I have absolutely no memory of it lol. My old man was a volunteer fireman at the time so he stayed home to watch over our house and also stayed at the firehouse. The first ice storm I remember was actually from April 2003.

Weather forecast today is giving me flashbacks to 91. Hopefully weather today will not be anything like this storm.

Remember it well.

The wipers!

Wow! Seems like it was last week when we had this, hard to believe that it's been 30 years. I had power through it, then lost it for redoing the grid in my neighborhood. Then 3-4 days after the ice storm my grandma passed away(not storm related), had to wait weeks till she could be buried, from all the debris from the trees to be cleared from Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Not a good time at all. I did help out family with housing, meals and even made a few bucks with my chainsaw. I still wonder why in God's name, why power lines are aboveground? Can someone please explain.

I woke up to no power. I found an old Radio Shack radio that ran on a 9V battery. My family listened to County Manager Frey declare a state of emergency. An announcer mentioned about basements that were going to flood and my mom and I looked at each other with an expression of "oh s**t, he's right." I looked down the basement stairs and said "The water's already to the foot of the stairs." Fortunately our basement wasn't finished, but I had to spend two hours each day bailing water!

Looks like heading South on Dewey Ave.

Oh Shit, I remember this. I was there. It was horrible

This video starts on Dewey Ave across from the entrance to the cemetery.

20 years tomorrow!

Lol Dewey Ave look the same

Turn the windshield wipers off

What is that big building behind the Peppermill on the corner of west ridge and dewey?

good ol nineteen naughty one!

Would Like to use some of your footage in the bicetennial snapshot for the town of greece snapshot

spent 3 day there in spencerport, Mutual aid

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

God I wish you would have turned those damn wipers off

I worked for RG&E the …no fun..

Looks like dewey ave

I was a little boy wen this happened... 32 now wow check out my 4k music videos

Living through it was no fun

If I weren't a Christian I'd call you an idiot for driving with one hand while filming with the other. You put yourself and everyone else at risk. Glad to assume that everyone is okay. Please don't try that again. No video is worth risking anyone's life.

That ice storm was actually a blessing for a bunch of us we were out of work Masons and roofers and we wound up making money doing tree work

I was 6 when this happened... still remember it clear as day- walking out into the iced-over apocalypse in the morning and no electricity for days... thank you for posting, there aren't many ice storm '91 vids on youtube!!!