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Old 05-09-2009, 08:15 AM   #6
Alluvial
Phenomenologist
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Central Mississippi
Posts: 270
Quote:
Ice-jam floods occur on rivers that are totally or partially frozen. A rise in stream stage will break up a totally frozen river and create ice flows that can pile up on channel obstructions such as shallow riffles, log jams, or bridge piers. The jammed ice creates a dam across the channel over which the water and ice mixture continues to flow, allowing for more jamming to occur. Backwater upstream from the ice dam can rise rapidly and overflow the channel banks. Flooding moves downstream when the ice dam fails, and the water stored behind the dam is released. At this time the flood takes on the characteristics of a flash flood, with the added danger of ice flows that, when driven by the energy of the floodwave, can inflict serious damage on structures. An added danger of being caught in an ice-jam flood is hypothermia, which can quickly kill. Ice jams on the Yukon River in Alaska contributed to severe flooding during the spring breakup of 1992.
From here.

Interesting to note that the previous historic peak of the Yukon at Eagle was in 1937.
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