We're Jammin'..... and I hope you're NOT jammin' too.

The river near our home is flooding over it's banks in spots because of an ice jam that just won't go away.  Honestly, I'm kind of excited about it....but I think I'd feel differently if I lived in the flood zone. I was doing some grocery shopping when over the store intercom came a nervous voice announcing that the ice jam up river had broken and that we should immediately move our cars to higher spots in the parking lot because the flood would be here in five minutes. I dropped my basket and booked it out to the parking lot, where I proceeded to tell everyone within one hundred feet of me to reconsider shopping as the flood would be coming through in minutes.  I got a little wrapped up in the moment. Men with shiny SUV's scampered back to their vehicles a panic. I definitely startled at least one old lady.

And nothing happened. I waited for two hours by the river. 

The ice jam had "jammed" up again within a stones throw of my town. We're still waiting for it to move. No doubt when it does, it will get stuck again downstream of us and we'll find ourselves flooded. They've sent up Coast Guard cutters to break it up so that it has a clear path....and so that it doesn't wait to let loose until the spring when we *normally* go over the flood stage. That would not be so good. While the jam is around, I thought I'd take a few pictures. 

 

The Cutter getting ready to make some passes at the channel.

  

The river is quite low in some spot and fairly deep in others. It is also tidal....so when it's low tide, there are some pretty amazing shapes to see. 

  

This is the head of the jam. Though it doesn't look like much in this picture, it extends back up the river about half a mile. And it is solid. This ice is not like the soft thaw ice of spring. It is incredibly dense.

  

  

 

   So, who knows when it will break....or if it will wait until spring!! For now, there is a flood watch for the county. I'd better head back to Hannaford, just in case. You know, they really need nimble little samaritans like me to keep their customers up to speed on the latest flood information, to scare the bejeezus out of the elderly, and to keep the crowds inside the store at a manageable (i.e.dimished) level.