ALLAGASH (AP) – Emergency management officials in northern Maine have relaxed preparations for flooding as cooler weather and receding waters eased pressure threatening to dislodge ice jams in the St. John River.

Officials have ceased around-the-clock monitoring at a command center at the Allagash Town Office of the roughly seven-mile long, 30-feet deep ice jam from Cross Rock to Big Rapids. Instead, responders will be on call through the evening hours.

“The water is now eroding the ice jam. That’s not to say they are out of the woods yet, but it seems to be taking care of itself,” said Joe Albert, a Maine Emergency Management Agency public assistance officer. “Water is cutting a channel through and under the ice to alleviate some of the flooding threats.”

Thursday was the seventh day that the town was under pressure from the jam, which stretches from the Aroostook River Bridge to the Maine-New Brunswick border.

Ice from the upper reaches of the river had been adding to the roiling mass of water and ice all week, but that eased Wednesday when river levels dropped a foot overnight at Fort Fairfield.

“Hopefully we will continue the cold weather for 48 hours,” said Roy Gardner, an Allagash selectman. “Things don’t look quite so bad.”

The National Weather Service says ice jams are unpredictable, dangerous and can create serious flooding downstream akin to a dam break. Three Coast Guard cutters are in the region to try to break the jams and ease flooding threats.

Another ice jam at the St. Francis town line remained in place, however.

There is also a jam at Grand Isle held in place by 20 miles of ice covering the head pond of a hydroelectric dam at Grand Falls, New Brunswick.

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