The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Giant ice jams bring flooding
Crews working to break up floes, clear waterway
A massive ice jam at least five miles long continued to clog the Connecticut River on Wednesday, flooding low-lying areas and threatening property.
The ice field of broken-up blocks, some a foot thick, extends from the East Haddam Swing Bridge north beyond Higganum. Residents reported no movement Wednesday, increasing concerns over flooding.
Homeowners along Higganum Landing reported basement flooding, with sump pumps working overtime.
To break up the ice, the Coast Guard on Wednesday morning deployed a second tug from New York to relieve its 60-foot cutter Bollard, which was turned back Tuesday at Essex, according to Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier.
The cutter was expected to reach the local area by late evening to team up Thursday with the ice-breaking harbor tug Bollard to clear massive ice jams choking the river due to wide temperature fluctuations and rain last week.
The Bollard, which made its way from Essex to Middletown on Tuesday, set about ramming the ice for hours, breaking up dams choking up the river, but had to return to New Haven, Strohmaier said.
These vessels operate from dawn to dusk. “They will not work at night because they’re unfamiliar with the area and the fact that there is still debris in the waterway.
“They’ll tie up to attack the ice together to see what they can do as
they go up,” the river, Strohmaier said. “It got to the point where the capability of the cutter itself maxed out and there was a lot of debris and unknown objects in the river. We decided to play it safe and reassess the situation.”
The Coast Guard cutters work to keep a path open for vessels and keep the channel clear of ice floes and ice dams to prevent damage to property and ensure public safety, he said.
“If we can prevent the ice jam from locking up, the warmer weather (which is expected this weekend) will help us,” Strohmaier said.
The most significant jam just north of the East Haddam Swing Bridge is effectively backing up the river, NBC Connecticut meteorologist Ryan Hanrahan said Wednesday morning.
“Huge chunks and huge slabs of ice are preventing the river’s normal flow to Old Saybrook and Old Lyme,” he said. “It’s acting as a dam because there’s too much coming down from Middletown,” causing flooding and damage to riverbanks and docks upstream.
“These are multi-hundred-pound ice slabs, some 500, 600, 700 pounds and more than a foot thick, scraping up against the riverbed, causing problems in Haddam and East Haddam, both sides, north of the Swing Bridge,” he said. “It’s nuts.”
Last Friday, temperatures reached 60 degrees and then between Sunday and Monday, dipped as low as 10 degrees. That, combined with rains last week, pushed the river past flood stage. The swollen banks overflowed, flooding Harbor Park in Middletown, at Haddam Meadows and Eagle Landing in Haddam, and other locations.
East Haddam First Selectman Emmett J. Lyman said the ice jams began to form Monday.
“The ice is simply piling up against the river below the bridge. I’m a little concerned about the bridge, but no one else is concerned, so I guess I’m just a worrywart about that,” Lyman said.
“The dilemma is, in many respects, it’s a shallow river. The channel keeps it open. Other than that, you can’t just charge through there with a boat,” said Lyman, who hadn’t heard about damage to residents’ docks in town.
At Haddam Meadows, the road leading to the boat launch area was cordoned off Wednesday morning and waters reached as far as the parking lot just off Saybrook Road.
“Some people who live along the Connecticut River in Haddam said they had not seen something like this in at least two decades,” Hanrahan said Wednesday morning.
The last significant ice jam, he said, occurred at the end of January 1994 in Baltic on the Quinebaug River, which flooded houses and businesses in Sprague’s center near Route 97. “The ice backed up behind the bridge and flooded downtown Baltic.”
In Kent, along the Housatonic River, officials are dealing with similar issues, he said.
In Middletown at Harbor Park, the boardwalk was under water Wednesday morning and the river flooded the first floor of the Mattabesett Canoe Club, which often experiences high water during the spring freshet (thaw).
“We had to isolate the power there just to make sure there were no issues,” said Middletown Fire Chief Robert Kronenberger, who added that the river crested there at 8.7 feet Monday into Tuesday.
Flood stage at the harbor is 8 feet. Levels dropped to 7.9 feet Tuesday, he said, and by Wednesday night, the river was at 6.6 feet.
Estimates show the river will return to its normal stage of 5.9 feet this evening between 4 and 6 p.m.
“We’re definitely headed in the right direction,” Kronenberger said. “It’s definitely on its way down, what with having the precipitation today and a warmer weekend coming. Middletown clearly has had worse flooding down there.”
Part of the metal portion of the Fire Department’s dock off River Road had been crushed by the ice, he said.
“Middletown is lucky in the sense that it’s more of a nuisance to us than a real disaster. We don’t end up with a lot of life-safety issues.”
The Lady Katherine cruise ship is tied up at Harbor Park and officials were concerned the ice would drive it ashore, damaging the bulkhead.
In Cromwell, Town Manager Anthony Salvatore said the river overflow flooded backyards of some residents along River Road due to the size of the ice chunks.
“So far, it’s not a threat to the residents themselves. Several that have boat slips along the river have lost piers in the water,” he said, adding that he had heard the boat club also lost one.
“River Road is under water but it’s not affecting any residents’ ability to get to their homes,” Salvatore said. “The river seems to be moving up here, compared to yesterday, a lot more freely.”
The ice has also backed up at Wilcox Island in Cromwell “because it’s got to make the bend going toward Middletown.”
Salvatore said he rode along Route 9 to check out the flooding. “It looks like the worst of it is what we’ve experienced so far, but that’s not to say if we have more rain, we might have problems. It looks hopeful for us. We’ve experienced much worse,” Salvatore said.
Water from the icejammed Connecticut also spilled over its banks flooding roads and yards in two sections of Portland. Route 17A was closed in the vicinity of the Wangunk Meadows as well as on Riverview Street near Portland Boat Works.
Fire Chief and Emergency Management Coordinator Robert J. Shea “is monitoring the situation,” First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield said.
Flooding is common in the area of the Meadows, which occupies an area along the western edge of town facing Cromwell across the river. “Residents who live in that area are well aware of the tendency of the river to overflow its banks,” Bransfield said.
But flooding is much rarer in the area along the southern portion of town near the boatyard, she acknowledged. “Everyone who needs to has been consulted and there are no immediate concerns,” Bransfield said.
The roads were blocked off “so drivers won’t be tempted to drive through a flooded area. No one should ever try to drive through a flooded roadway,” Bransfield said.
Youth Service Director Mary Pont, who was waiting to speak with Bransfield, took a more relaxed view of the situation.
“The water goes up and then it goes down,” Pont said.