Ice Jams Continue To Threaten

 

March 30, 2023

The photo may not look particularly threatening, but it details the lower end of an ice jam over ten miles in length that has been threatening Broadus and ranches along the river for the past week.

A series of lengthy, long lingering ice jams continued to clog up Powder River over the week.

As we reported last week, an extended ice jam of over 10 river miles in length extended from just past the mouth of Rough Creek upstream. That jam was still in place as of this Tuesday morning – a very long time for an ice jam to remain in place. Water was flowing under the jam at a steady pace, and reports were that the jam seemed to be coming apart from the top end down rotting slowly away. Flooding of lowland fields and the timber along the river was also reported.

Another jam downstream of the Broadus bridge backed water up past the bridge, and caused minor flooding of lowland areas.

When word of the jams became more widespread last Tuesday, authorities worried that the large upstream jam would break loose and cause a potential flood in Broadus if it hit the downstream jam.

A flood warning was enacted with NOAA, and extended several times due to the jam remaining in place. As of the writing of this article on March 27th, that warning had been extended until Wednesday, March 29th at 6 pm, and was enacted for central Powder River County.

10,000 sandbags were brought down from Miles City, on loan from Custer County Fire Department, in the event of a flood.

On Saturday, an ice jam near Powderville was also reported.

In the case of all the reported jams, water was flowing underneath the jams, or in the case of the jam near town, water was bypassing the jam through the old channel near the sewer lagoon. On Tuesday, a jam was reported in the neighborhood of Earley's, downstream from Broadus.

 

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