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Ice Jam on the Missouri River
3/27/2009 1:37:00 PM
Yesterday I spent nearly a whole day warming up inside a North Dakota family’s house. The married couple invited us inside their home, made us coffee and offered us homemade venison jerky. Myself, two reporters and a photographer from the department of transportation huddled inside while we waited for the river to explode.
An ice jam, nearly a mile across, clogged a section of the Missouri River in turn flooding the low-lying communities in the area. Demolition crews and the North Dakota National Guard braved the extreme cold and wind chill for more than five hours drilling holes in the ice and wiring up explosives. I wanted to bring them some hot coffee and then I remembered the half-mile of car sized ice chunks, tree logs and other dangerous things I would have to survive to make the trek. “I have never seen it like this for 33-years,” said Bob and Cheryl, the wonderful people that invited us into their home. I asked if he would ever think about considering another residence, as the demolition crews placed the last fire in the hole, and he laughed. As I found out, Bob had nearly built his entire house. He loved Fort Lincoln, with or without the Missouri River rising on his back door.
We all watched with impatience for this bomb to go off. Hours went by surprisingly fast though with good conversation and the stories we shared, every so often peeking out over the ice with binoculars to get a better look. There were warnings from the police department of a large boom that could break the windows in Bob and Cheryl’s house so we all went out side. Better idea right? Ice chunks exploded across two football fields with a large boom, helicopters circled and I helped Bob lift his snow blower into his pickup. We all hoped and prayed the ice jam and flooding would stop, and people could go back to their homes.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Erik Swanson
Eleventh District Public Affairs
View the video at CGVI or YouTube.
