Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

Jam Out: Ice jam melts, relieving riverside

Ice melts, relieving riverside interests

By Craig Crosby ccrosby@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA — Warm weather has melted the much-feared ice jam in the Kennebec River, bringing relief to property owners and emergency officials after weeks of fretting.

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ICE OUT: Danielle Filoso, left, and Brooke Campbell stretch Tuesday after running to the bulkhead on the Kennebec River in Hallowell. Authorities believe that the threat of an ice jam flooding communities along the river has passed.

Staff photo by Andy Molloy

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ROLLING DAMAGE: The ice jam cracked 12 pilings and damaged railings on Gardiner's boardwalk.

Staff file photo by Joe Phelan

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"The Kennebec River ice jam is gone," Richard "Beau" Beausoleil, director of the Kennebec County Emergency Management Agency, told Kennebec County commissioners Tuesday. "Thanks to Mother Nature, our latest flood fears have melted away into the river."

Ice continues to cling to the shore in many spots along the river, but the threat to property and people has passed, Beausoleil said.

The ice jam formed in Augusta in January after a torrential rain storm forced the Kennebec River to rise 6 feet above flood stage. The jam eventually made its way down to the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Bridge in Gardiner and backed up a more than a mile, threatening floods for a large area of riverfront property from Gardiner to Augusta.

U.S. Coast Guard cutters arrived a few days later to break the ice and improve river flow -- efforts that were largely frustrated by cold weather and a refreezing of the mass.

County emergency officials held meetings with river property owners and worked with 20 different agencies to prepare for worst-case scenarios, Beausoleil said.

"Trying to coordinate all of them was a daunting task," he said. "I don't know how many hundreds of hours we put in the last five weeks."

Tensions may have peaked last week when forecasters began calling for up to 5 inches of rain and powerful winds. Those forecasts proved accurate but water was able to flow through the melting ice jam without causing additional flooding.

"If we had that storm two weeks ago, we'd probably still be under water," Beausoleil said. "Luckily, it came at a point it was already rotted out."

The area did not escape unscathed. The city boardwalk in Gardiner and a new pier constructed in Hallowell were damaged, Beausoleil said, and it remains to be seen whether the area will qualify for federal assistance to help pay for the damage.

Now that the danger is behind them, Beausoleil believes agencies are better off for having dealt with the jam.

"I think it was a good exercise in pulling people together on something that wasn't a usual event," he said.

Craig Crosby -- 623-3811, ext. 433

ccrosby@centralmaine.com