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FORT COVINGTON — The 1,800-foot ice jam that has threatened homes along Salmon and Water streets for six weeks washed away overnight.
"It's wide open," said Jamie Gratton of the Franklin County Emergency Services Office.
"When we walked in (Friday) morning, our cameras were showing the river flow.
"The ice went out overnight," he said. That ended the danger Fort Covington homeowners have felt since the huge jam formed Jan. 25 just north of the Center Street Bridge.
MELTED AWAY
The combination of warm day-time temperatures and cooler nights melted the ice gradually, and the river's current was able to pull it out of Fort Covington to work its way north to the St. Lawrence River.
Town and county highway crews had worked for several days to pull large sheets of ice off of the river's edges, past the Salmon River Post 1418 American Legion building on Water Street, which also helped open a channel for the larger mass to pass through.
The homes that had been most endangered and had to be evacuated when the ice jam first moved in from Westville are on each side of the river on Salmon and Waster streets.
KEEPING WATCH
This section is where 48,000 cubic yards of sediment and silt settled in July after the town removed an aging hydro dam. A heavy rainstorm and the riverbank collapse added to conditions that reduced water depth from several feet to a few inches.
As winter settled in, the shallow water and ground froze, sending the river over its banks and across lawns.
The ice jam eventually grew to the length of six football fields and was 10 inches thick.
The county and town developed an emergency-evacuation plan in advance of an anticipated winter thaw, but as of Friday, it appeared as though it won't need to be implemented.
"We're going to keep our eye on it and keep the cameras there until the boss tells us to take them out," Gratton said. "But it looks like the water level is normal, and that's good news."
APPREHENSIVE
Residents are pleased to see some of the threat eliminated for now, but more worries may be ahead.
"Thank God, it's gone," Fort Covington resident Susan Schrader said of the ice jam. "But we've still got the sand. It hasn't moved. There is still a chance we could get flooded."
She and her husband, Andy, live at 746 Salmon St., where a large amount of silt was deposited.
"We still haven't heard a word about dredging," she said. "If this isn't taken care of, this will happen again next year, and we'll have to be worried all next winter.
"It's going to happen every year, and we'll have to buy flood insurance again next year unless something is done."
The Schraders are paying about $100 a month for the added insurance. Their neighbors also bought policies, which went into effect earlier this month and will compensate them for future flood losses.
"I really want to commend the town board and commend the county because they really are concerned and really care," Schrader said. "We are very fortunate.
"But more sand has come down. There are two major sand bars in the river, and we only have four or five inches of water."
E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com
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