Tense Moments For Amphibex Crew

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Amphibex making in-roads before yesterday’s break-away (photo courtesy City)

Prince George, B.C. -  Huge chunks of ice broke away from the foot of the Nechako River icejam late yesterday afternoon, sending the Amphibex "spinning around like a top".

The City’s Public Liaison Officer, Kevin Brown, says a huge section of ice came cascading down the river in sections. 

He says the water excavator had opened up a 2-km channel from the Nechako’s confluence with the Fraser and had been moving upstream from that point, around the Cottonwood Island park area, "and then all of a sudden, as it went to chip away at one section of ice, a whole bunch of ice let loose and came moving downstream very, very quickly."  The open channel is now four-kilometres in length.

No one on the Amphibex was injured, although it was a frightening situation.  Brown says the pile up of frazil, or soft, ice has created some chunks that are more than two-metres high.  And, he says, the unpredictability of this frazil ice and the river currents has led Eco Technologies owner Paul LaPlante and city emergency officials to determine it’s not safe to have the Amphibex working at night. 

Brown says a previous report that it worked through the night was erroneous.  LaPlante wants the crew to be able to see what’s happening with the ice and what’s happening with the river.

In the photo below (courtesy of the City of Prince George), you can just see the arm of the Amphibex shovel above the ice on the right-hand side of the picture...

Brown says the scare for the Amphibex crew emphasizes the need for city residents to heed the warning of staying back from the river. 

 "Today is Day 47, through the entire incident, ice has broken free at the least expected time, large sections come free," he says. 

"It’s a dynamic situation, governed by Mother Nature and when she says when it’s time for a piece of ice to go, it goes, and that’s why the safety aspect for people out and about this weekend is so important."

"Stay back from the river."

Opinion250 file photo below gives full view of the amphibious excavator...

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us