FORT KENT, Maine — State and local officials are keeping a close eye on a massive ice jam on the St. John River in Allagash that could affect towns downriver if it lets go over the next 24 hours.
The St. John River rose about 15 feet in 90 minutes behind the jam in Allagash at about 4 a.m. Thursday, according to Greg Stewart of the U.S. Geological Service in Maine. Stewart said this was considered a historically rapid rise and ranked among the top five fastest river level increases since records have been kept over the last 70 years.
“We expect it to let go sometime today,” Stewart said during a meeting of the Maine River Flow Advisory Commission on Thursday morning. “People along the St. John River really want to pay attention.”
Downriver, municipal officials were heeding that advice.
Ice jams can cause water to rise rapidly upriver from their location, creating flooding conditions. When the ice jam breaks up, all that backed up water is released and can cause more flooding problems in low-lying areas as it rushes downriver.
“We are monitoring the situation,” Don Guimond, Fort Kent Town Manager, said Thursday morning. “We estimate it takes about two hours and 45 minutes for the ice to get from [Allagash] to Fort Kent, assuming it does not jam up somewhere in between.”
If the ice jam in Allagash does let go and the water dammed up behind it flows down the river to Fort Kent, Guimond said the town is ready.
“We have our game plan in place,” he said. “It is a concern with everything all jammed up.”
Officials with the county’s emergency management services also were on the ground in the St. John Valley Thursday, said Darren Woods, director of Aroostook Emergency Management Agency, during the advisory commission meeting
“I am not pushing the panic button at this point,” Woods said. “I think we have a good handle on things, and we are not in ‘emergency’ mode by any means yet.”
Officials also are keeping an eye on an ice jam on the Aroostook River near the Fort Fairfield and Caribou town line that caused flooding Wednesday night and prompted the Maine Department of Transportation to close a section of Grimes Road, also known as North Caribou Road.
A flood warning was issued for all of northern Maine as ice jams and melting snow will cause some river levels to rise in Aroostook County through Friday evening, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service also is tracking a series of storms expected to bring up to 3 inches of rain to parts of the state on Monday and create flooding conditions in areas Down East that were hit with record snowfall this past winter.
“Those rains will be taking the snowpack with it, and that could produce [the equivalent to] a 3- to 5-inch rainstorm,” Stewart said. “It sounds like Down East will be in the bullseye of that rain event.”
In central Maine, according to Donny Dumond of the National Weather Service’s Caribou office, both the Penobscot and Piscatiquis rivers have peaked and their levels are falling.
“How much rain we do get remains a big question,” Dumond told the commission during Thursday’s meeting. “But it won’t be super warm over the next couple of days, so the remainder of the snowpack will be a slow, controlled runoff from now into next week.”
In the Augusta area, according to Stewart, the Kennebec peaked Wednesday and levels were falling.
Stewart did say heavy rains do have the potential to bring river levels up around the state and the potential for flooding is above normal next week.
