Ice Jams

Following a long winter which saw the ice on Powder River remain stubbornly frozen in place for around a month longer than usual, the ice went out earlier this week. In the picture at left, Tom Riggs stands near an ice jam on his ranch south of Broadus, on Monday afternoon. The riverbank Tom stands beside is normally a ten foot drop down to water, but the jam pushed the flows up above bank level, causing lowland flooding upstream. That particular ice jam stretched multiple miles upstream, and was still intact as of Friday morning. A flood warning was ordered for the area including Broadus on Tuesday, and remained Friday. (Photo courtesy Kitty Riggs)

The picture at right was taken late Monday afternoon, looking downstream from the Broadus Bridge, as chunks of rotten ice filled the river from shore to shore. On Tuesday morning an ice jam was spotted downstream from the bridge, though water seemed to be flowing underneath the jam and keeping the Powder within her banks.