Ice Jam Flood Assessment for the St. John River Basin, Aroostook County, Maine.
Abstract
Ice jams occur almost every year on the Aroostook and St. John rivers in northern Maine. While most of these jams cause minor flooding or no flooding at all, ice jams have caused severe flooding six times in the last 20 years. In 1991 ice jams on the St. John River caused damage estimated at $14 million. This report reviews field observations of the ice regime on the rivers and discusses possible mitigation measures-ice retention structures, channel modifications and early warning systems. In addition, since the 1991 ice jam caused water levels to rise so quickly that people were stranded in their homes, the development and installation of an ice jam motion detection system is described. To aid in early warning, a system to predict the potential for ice jams and their severity that is based on a correlation of hydro-meteorological data with the ice regime is presented. (MM)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1995
- Accession Number
- ADA295607
Entities
People
- David S. Deck
- James L. Wuebben
- Jean-claude Tatinclaux
- Jon E. Zufelt
Organizations
- Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory