The Observation Deck

Yesterday Rocky River issued a flood warning for homes along the West Bank of Rocky River. With the freezing and thawing comes an amazing build up that is pretty obvious if you walk up river for a couple miles from the mouth of the river.


You can plainly see the height of the last ice dam with the ice on the left, and the much lower level of the new ice dam on the right.




Just like the last thaw and flooding, you can see farther down stream the ice remains in place, and quite smooth.




All together now.

As you go farther and farther up stream you can see the height of the river increase, because of the build of of the ice dam at the mouth, and the melting and flow of the ice and river behind it. While the depth of the ice varies upstream, the ice dam keeps it at 12" or more, with chunks blocking more and more of the flow under the ice you can see, and this is where the trouble lies. If it finally breaks through, the water makes a huge push, exactly the same when an earthen dam lets go, with a rush of high water.

Lakewood Fire Department is monitoring.

Here comes the flood again...

.

Only change in the river seems to be ice turning to slush.

.

Slush is good!

Last night around 10:30 pm the ice dam broke up with a channeling cutting through it.

That shifted the problem to two debris dams, on in the West Bank and one by the Lagoons. Soon they washed out to the lake as well, flood warnings canceled.

Thanks for watching the river flow, Lakewood and Rocky River Fire Departments.


"Watching the River Flow" Bob Dylan with the Grateful Dead

.