Cambridge ice jam cleanup cost almost $1 million

Mayor applauds city staff for February’s ice jam cleanup efforts

CAMBRIDGE — In the midst of the first heat wave of 2018, Cambridge got the chilling bill for the costs of cleaning up February’s ice jam above the Park Hill dam.

In a report presented to council’s general committee on Tuesday, Gina Cliffe, the city’s manager of community emergency planning, said the price tag for the cleanup totalled $958,651.94. That includes the city’s tab of roughly $240,000, Waterloo Region’s cost of about $165,000 and repairs to the Galt Country Club, where the massive ice flows tore up the riverbank holes and infrastructure, which cost $554,000.

The report detailed the work done behind the scenes with city staff, the region and officials with the Grand River Conservation Authority in planning to deal with the ice jam that backed up the river seven kilometres from Park Hill dam to Fountain Street. It also detailed the measures taken to warn residents of possible flooding and made extensive use of social and traditional media to alert the public of road closures and the danger the ice jam posed.

When the ice jam broke up at 3 a.m. on Feb. 21, city crews were ready.

Bridges across the river in the Galt core were barricaded and the city working with officials in North Dumfries Township warned downstream residents of the coming surge.

That surge ripped away 30 feet of the water main running beneath the Concession Street bridge, leaving roughly half the city without drinking water. Once the source of the break was found, crews made repairs in a matter of hours.

Messaging quickly went out to residents through social and traditional media on how to deal with the brown water in the pipes following the repairs. Work also began on clearing the massive ice floes and hardened slush from flooded sections of Water Street. While it was anticipated the cleanup would take a day and a half, crews were able to reopen Water Street south within eight hours.