Cutters break ice jam Windsor Star, Canada, Tuesday, March 30, 2010
WINDSOR, Ont. —Massive ice jams that caused shipping traffic bottlenecks over the weekend have finally been cleared from the St. Clair River after round-the-clock work by the Canadian and U.S. coast guards.
"This winter was a very strange event," said Andy Maillet, the superintendent of operations at the Canadian Coast Guard regional operations centre in Sarnia.
"This particular winter has been an anomaly along the whole Eastern Seaboard. The Gulf of St. Lawrence saw record low amounts of ice. I certainly have never seen this in my 34 years."
Maillet said that while Lake St. Clair had the least amount of ice since 1984, it still saw three instances where ice bridges were formed at the mouth of the St. Clair River in January, February and last week.
"They sort of had the perfect storm type of situation where the winds, the temperatures, everything was in proper sync, the planets were aligned, and the ice just pummelled down the river, as it did a couple of months ago," said Maillet of the trouble that began early last week.
"The ice sealed up the river again, the only ice that remained out there was the heavy, thick ice that survived the melt, so it all piled up at the bottom of the St. Clair River and caused an ice jam whereby there was an ice jam both at the top end and the bottom end initially."
Seven ice breakers, the Samuel Risley and Griffon from Canada and five from the U.S., worked 24 hours straight on Thursday and Friday to clear the jam while shipping traffic was brought to a standstill.
"It's probably the first time we've ever had seven icebreakers working at one place on the Great Lakes ever," said Maillet.
There were about 20 commercial vessels waiting to proceed through the river while the icebreaking took place.
Such jams actually impede the flow of water and cause the level of Lake St. Clair to drop and Lake Huron to rise, Maillet said.
| Canadian, U.S. coast guards break ice jam Windsor Star, BY CHRIS THOMPson Massive ice jams that caused shipping traffic bottlenecks over the weekend have finally been cleared from the St. Clair River after round-the-clock work by the Canadian and U.S. coast guards. “This winter was a very strange event,” said Andy Maillet, the superintendent of operations at the Canadian Coast Guard regional operations centre in Sarnia. “This particular winter has been an anomaly along the whole Eastern Seaboard. The Gulf of St. Lawrence saw record low amounts of ice. I certainly have never seen this in my 34 years.” Maillet said that while Lake St. Clair had the least amount of ice since 1984, it still saw three instances where ice bridges were formed at the mouth of the St. Clair River in January, February and last week. “They sort of had the perfect storm type of situation where the winds, the temperatures, everything was in proper sync, the planets were aligned, and the ice just pummelled down the river, as it did a couple of months ago,” said Maillet of the trouble that began early last week. “The ice sealed up the river again, the only ice that remained out there was the heavy, thick ice that survived the melt, so it all piled up at the bottom of the St. Clair River and caused an ice jam whereby there was an ice jam both at the top end and the bottom end initially.”
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