This video shows an ice tsunami slowly creeping across the ground until it reaches houses on the shore of Mille Lacs Lake. It’s amazing to watch, despite the vertical recording and annoying commentary.
Watching this is like watching a glacier move but on a much smaller basis. It’s natural forces at work, and natural forces are usually the most difficult to counter. Hence the emergency services are pretty much powerless to help.
Mille Lacs Lake covers 536 square kilometers, but it’s never deeper than 13 meters. In other words this is a huge, shallow lake. Which explains how the ice tsunami is possible.
When water freezes it expands, so just like rising water levels, the ice rose up out of the lake and into the houses located on the shore of Mille Lacs Lake.