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:
“I would watch the funny people make love the way Maupassant said,
my youth allowed me the opportunity to hear all those strange
verbs conjugated in erotic affirmations.”
—Conrad Kent Rivers (1933–1968)
“Melancholy is at the bottom of everything, just as at the end of all rivers is the sea. Can it be otherwise in a world where nothing lasts, where all that we have loved or shall love must die? Is death, then, the secret of life? The gloom of an eternal mourning enwraps, more or less closely, every serious and thoughtful soul, as night enwraps the universe.”
—Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881)