Ice jam on Yukon breaks up; Galena no longer faces flood

The ice began moving Thursday night, but Galena residents worried Friday that ice chunks might get caught up in a hard horseshoe bend in the river 20 miles downstream of the community of 700. If ice had been trapped there, the river level upstream would rise and flood Galena.

That fear never materialized. The National Weather Service canceled a flood watch for the area Friday afternoon.

City manager Tom Corrigan said the ice was thick at first as it passed the village but thinned and was flowing freely later Friday.

"There's still a lot going through, but we're optimistic we're over the hump," he said.

The moving ice raised the water level around town by about 12 feet but that was starting to recede.

Residents were a bit elated to see the ice moving by, and entire families gathered near the banks to watch, Corrigan said. For many, it signals a change in seasons, said Corrigan.

Still, some low-lying areas had minor flooding. Water also had crept near the main road linking two sections of Galena.

To prepare for possible flooding, emergency supplies, including cots and backup generators, were put in place in two sections of the village earlier in the week. After the threat evaporated, and the provisions were no longer needed, Corrigan decided to use his own personal funds to grill up some steaks, hot dogs, burgers and bratwurst Friday evening to thank about 15 city workers who "busted their humps" preparing for the worst.

The ice jam had been in place about halfway between Galena and Ruby since last weekend and backed up water in Ruby to levels not seen since the flood of 1971, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Ruby is built on a bluff, so flooding was minimal. Downstream is Galena, which is lower than Ruby.

Before it broke, the ice jam consisted of several large sheets of ice anchored in the river that were backing up chunk ice for about 25 miles, Ed Plumb, a weather service hydrologist who flew over the jam Thursday, told the News-Miner.