The ice storm that hit eastern Canada and Northeastern United States in January 1998 crippled significant parts of especially the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The ice storm made severe damages to the power grid witch caused extensive consequences for the whole society. More than 5 million people where affected by the power outages. The crisis that followed lasted for more than five weeks and the power supply was unstable well into February 1998. The Swedish Agency for Civil Emergency Planning (OCB) commissioned the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) to study the 1998 ice ston*n. In this report we are giving an account of what consequences an ice storm and power failures in a modem society can cause. We also describe how different actors managed the crisis, and we present some lessons that could be learned from the ice storm.