On Rivers
If the upstream part of a river thaws first (possibly because it flows away from the equator), and the ice gets carried downstream into the still-frozen part, the ice can form an ice dam and flood the areas upstream of the jam. This occurred during the 2009 Red River Flood and the 2009 Alaska floods. After the ice dam breaks apart, the sudden surge of water that breaks through the dam can then flood areas downstream of the jam. While this usually occurs in spring, it can happen as winter sets in when the downstream part becomes frozen first. Where floods threaten human habitation, the blockage may be artificially cleared. Ice blasting using dynamite may be used, as well as other mechanical means.
Read more about this topic: Ice Dam
Famous quotes containing the word rivers:
“Like an unseasonable stormy day,
Which makes the silver rivers drown their shores,
As if the world were all dissolved to tears,
So high above his limits swells the rage
Of Bolingbroke.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I remember once dreaming of pushing a canoe up the rivers of Maine, and that, when I had got so high that the channels were dry, I kept on through the ravines and gorges, nearly as well as before, by pushing a little harder, and now it seemed to me that my dream was partially realized.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)