EASTHAMPTON — Large chunks of ice floating on the Connecticut River jammed up under the Pearl Harbor Veterans Memorial Bridge Sunday, a sight that awed many as they stopped to take photos. Some places, such as the area by the Oxbow in Easthampton, flooded.
“If you stand here long enough you can hear it crunch,” Easthampton resident Patrick Brough said while looking down at the ice jam.
About half of the parking lot for the boat ramp off Route 5 was flooded and iced over. Brough flew his drone over the river and others grabbed their cameras.
“People were saying they’ve never seen it like this,” Brough said.
The website of the Northeast States Emergency Consortium, or NESEC, says that ice jams occur when warm temperatures and heavy rain cause snow to melt rapidly.
“Snow melt combined with heavy rains can cause frozen rivers to swell, which breaks the ice layer on top of the river,” NESEC states. “The ice layer often breaks into large chucks, which float downstream and often pile up near narrow passages. …”
A portion of Fort Hill Road was blocked with ice and water, but some cars were able to make it across. River Street off Fort Hill Road was completely submerged.
Ally Malo, a member of the Easthampton Rod and Gun Club on River Street, said she drove to the club at 8 p.m. Saturday night and the dead-end road was clear. But when she left about an hour later, Malo said, there was about a foot of water in her path.
As she drove through, Malo said, she thought to herself, “Oh my God, I’m going to sink.”
Malo was able to get back on dry road, but she said water got under her hood and froze overnight. Her car is OK, but she had trouble starting it in Sunday morning.
Murph Kinney, was visiting the area from Shirley, New York, and got turned around on Fort Hill Road Sunday on her way to the Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary.
“I feel comfortable driving on ice, but that’s going to rip my tires,” she said about the ice-laden water and her Toyota RAV4.
During the springtime, when water levels often rise, Malo said many people keep kayaks and canoes by the entrance of River Street to get across.
Marty Klein, an Easthampton resident and Pascommuck Conservation Trust board member, said the Oxbow floods every spring, and the flooded area off Fort Hill Road is one of his favorite places to kayak.
“Fort Hill Road turns into a boat launch,” Klein said, allowing him to drift through wooded areas. “It’s like kayaking through the forest.”
“It’s pretty wild, but it’s pretty normal,” he said. “The river has its ebbs and flows.”
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.