We lost power for 13 days following an ice storm in upstate New York, an area fully prepared for winter. You can't really prepare for ice.
The heavy coating of clear ice is indeed lovely. Search for pictures and you'll see it coating signs, trees, berries, bikes, bird feeders, exterior stairs, even the interior of a car. (Somebody wishes he'd rolled up the window, I bet.)
The weight of the ice breaks off tree branches in huge numbers, then limbs, some of them enormous. Many trees cleave themselves in two. Each break sounds something like a gunshot, and it goes on and on, some close, some distant. Shallow-rooted trees like pines fall over of their own weight, so it looks like a tornado went through.
Trees weighted with ice go right through a few unlucky roofs and crush cars stuck in driveways by downed limbs. Electrical wires are broken all over the place, and some of them take down the poles on which they're mounted. The connection point(s) of electrical service (and phone and cable TV) to house may also fall of its own iced weight. Gutters pull off and land on landscaping and walkways, so weighted by ice that two men can't haul them out of the way.
Small structures are more likely to fare well than large ones, because of the decreased expanse of roof and the corresponding weight of the amassed ice. Once a thaw finally comes, lots of big roofs leak.
However, any building sheltered by trees could suffer damage. It's quite likely that nobody can get a car on the road, or go very far if they do, since downed limbs and trees block roads and are a lower priority than power. Mail delivery was indeed halted for, IIRC, a week or so.
Schools closed and shelters opened, but not many people took advantage unless they were very old or had a baby in the house. Neighbors with power ran heavy-duty extension cords to power furnaces across the street. Friends hosted whole families.
Walking following an ice storm is treacherous. The clear ice is not always visible, and if the temperature gets above 25 or so, or if the sun shines at all, it's topped with a thin layer of water, making it a lot like walking on a Slip 'n Slide. Falls with bruises or broken bones were not uncommon among those who walked their neighborhoods.
Local governments declared a state of emergency and citizens were urged not to travel unless they had an emergency, by car or on foot. For many people, work constituted an emergency, as businesses which did not lose power continued to operate, staffed by people who'd spent the night four to a bed under all the covers in the house.
The first responders? Pizza delivery resumed by noon the next day, long before we saw anybody from a utility company. Local pizza places hired the friends of their employees and sent car loads as close as roads would allow, then had everybody pile out and hand deliver on foot. Big tips were a done deal.
Maryn, who baked every single day and spent a lot of time at museums, too