Laval rivers slowly returning to normal

By this past mid-week, the Mille Îles and des Prairies rivers were slowly experiencing the drop in levels that had begun the previous Sunday. “The levels have stabilized,” assures Nathalie Lorrain, spokesperson for the Laval Police department.

The ice jam in the Saint-François district, detected last Thursday, provoked the mobilization of the Civil Security and Emergency Measures Division of Ville de Laval’s Citizens Protection Services.

At the request of Laval and Terrebonne, the Canadian Coast Guard intervened with its hovercraft ice-breaker, undertaking with relative ease the carving of a channel through the thin ice, allowing the water blocked by the ice jam to flow again.

Elevated levels on the Rivière des Prairies at the end of last week had created an equally worrisome situation. “It raised the ice surface. We feared the ice would not give way, and jam up as a result,” Mrs. Lorrain relates.

Even though water climbed onto Riviera Street in Laval West – a phenomenon to which local riverside residents are accustomed in times of thaws – no flooding of homes was reported.

Now that the temporary threat has subsided, “the vigil continues,” says the police spokesperson, adding “It’s really similar to a spring thaw, only we saw it happen in January.” With the cold weather anticipated for the weekend, it’s the new frazil (ice crystals that form in supercooled flowing water) that must be monitored now, she cautions.

The chances of seeing this kind of ice forming on the surfaces of flowing water increased with the large accumulation of ice resulting from the mild weather of the week before.

Representatives of the Civil Security and Emergency Measures Division met at week’s end to outline the measures implemented during the ice-jam situation.

Photo:Hover

(Photo: Martin Alarie)