Warmer weather expected to solve ice jam problems

ALLAGASH – The warmer weather and rain forecast for the next couple of days are expected to help remove the ice cover on the St. John River.

A large ice jam on the St. John River, which had been holding in place for more than 10 days, has moved downriver and is part of an ice jam at Rankin Rapids at St. Francis, according to Roy Gardner, Allagash first selectman and a river watcher for several federal agencies in the United States and Canada.

Gardner said Tuesday afternoon that some smaller ice jams exist farther downriver near the mouth of the St. Francis River at St. Francis and just west of Frenchville.

The river’s water level has dropped since the movement of the ice jam. Last Thursday morning, the water level behind the ice jam was listed at 18.2 feet, and it was down to 9.2 feet Tuesday morning.

John River water levels at Fort Kent remained stable at between 8.5 feet and 9 feet through the same period.

“If we get the rain we are supposed to get tonight [Tuesday], these ice jams will all be gone by tomorrow,” Gardner said. “Much of the ice that was here moved downriver.

“Ice jams downriver are smaller than the one that was here,” he said. “I don’t think anything serious is going to happen,”

Gardner said there is still some ice on the river farther west from Allagash, and there is ice on the Allagash River, which empties into the St. John River at Allagash.

Snow measurements Tuesday morning showed there is about 3.5 inches of water in the snowpack still on the ground in the northern Maine forests, he said.

Gardner said he thinks rain will help the spring melt, raising water levels in the St. John River and moving the ice out of the river. He said the ice jams on the river are small, with no serious ice thickness for any of them.

Gardner, who on Tuesday morning rode U.S. Route 1 and Route 161, which runs parallel to the St. John River, said he saw open river most of the way to Grand Isle.

He said the water level in the river is low, but the expected rain and warm weather could make that rise to clean up the river.

Gardner said the water was moving downriver at a rate of 12,700 cubic feet per minute Tuesday. That was expected to rise to 21,500 cubic feet per minute by Wednesday night.