Allagash fears ease as ice jam recedes

ALLAGASH – The 275 residents of this small northern Maine town are breathing more easily and sleeping better this week after months of watching a threatening ice jam, reminiscent of the one that caused havoc 13 years ago.

The more than 4-mile-long ice jam, from below the village to Walker Brook near the Big Rapids, had been in place since a melt-thaw period in late December. The ice had piled up 5 to 10 feet in places.

The wall of ice reminded residents of the ice jam that took down two large bridges, several homes and long stretches of road in the spring of 1991.

“We were pretty happy to see that go during the week,” First Selectmen Roy Gardner said Saturday. “A lot of people had not been sleeping well, and now they are.

“It’s gone, but there were many anxious days,” the veteran river watcher said. “Everything worked out real good.”

Gardner credited the weather, the easy spring melt and the lower levels of snow in the woods this spring.

“The water came up just enough to work out a channel last Sunday, and the ice started moving out,” he said. “The weather was in our favor.”

Gardner said that when the channel formed, it just kept on going and the ice started moving, slowly, the way it should.

The river receded quickly during the week.

At Fort Kent, water levels dropped from a high of 19.7 feet on Wednesday to 16.7 feet on Saturday morning. Water receded from most fields and flatlands along the river on those days.

Now, Gardner said, it looks like it could be a period of low water levels. Rocks and small islands are visible on the river areas he watches from above Allagash to below Fort Kent.

Gardner said the area has not had much rain, and it may become too dry along the river.

“It’s hard to believe, but I think we may see a low river,” he said.