RUMFORD – Heavy weekend rains failed to dislodge a mile-long ice jam on the Androscoggin River in Rumford.
But downstream in Canton, firefighters still worried that it would cut loose suddenly. Such an event, they said, would have disastrous results in Canton.
Rumford Deputy Fire Chief Ben Byam, however, said Monday afternoon that he didn’t think the jam would be moving anytime soon.
“It slowed the water down so we didn’t get to flood stage, but that ice jam won’t go out until it gets warm out,” he said. “I don’t believe it’s going to break, since the water’s going down,” he added.
The river jumped its banks and flowed around the jam through farm fields on both sides before re-entering the channel just above the Rumford dam at Pennacook Falls.
The jam, he said, was behind McDonald’s restaurant.
But officials are not going to attempt to dislodge or break up the clogged channel.
Instead, “we’ll let nature take its course,” Byam said.
On Sunday, the jam was farther upstream, between Rumford Point and Rumford Center.
The blockage was first reported on Dec. 24. On Jan. 13, Rumford Deputy Fire Chief Scott Holmes said the jam extended from the boat launch near McDonald’s west four miles to Rumford Center.
Comments are no longer available on this story