Controlling River Ice to Alleviate Ice Jam Flooding

Many communities affected by ice jam flooding have accepted the event as unpreventable. Others have approached their problem as one of open channel flow and implemented standard projects such as channel modifications or dikes to combat their flooding. We feel that the best approach is to control the river ice before it poses a problem, by controlling either freeze-up or break-up. Our involvement at two areas where ice jam flooding has caused severe economic hardship and loss of life is described. An ice boom has been used to control the formation of river ice at Oil City, Pennsylvania, and a permanent ice control structure will be constructed on Cazenovia Creek in West Seneca, New York, to control the river ice during break-up.