BUFFALO, N.Y. — Massive sheets of ice were pushed over the Lake Erie-Niagara River ice boom on Monday as a result of high winds and a powerful Arctic weather front.
The ice boom, which is operated by the New York Power Authority, is meant to prevent ice jams, prevent flooding, and protect hydropower plants. Lou Paonessa, director of community affairs for the New York Power Authority, said the power authority is not sure if the boom broke — but he’s not too worried.
“It’s allowed to allow a certain amount of ice to go over (the) top in a high wind event or a seiche event and then pop back up and resurface again,” Paonessa said. “So that reduces the frequency and the duration and the amount of ice that comes down the Niagara River at any one given time.”
“Can we tell if a piece is broken or not? Not really. Right now we’d have to fly a drone. You can’t do that in this weather. So when the boom resurfaces, we’ll be able to tell if a section has broken free.”
High winds and recent ice-breaking operations — such as the freeing of the Manitoulin freighter — caused the boom to be pushed underwater. That allowed ice to pass over the top of it.
As ice piles up in the Niagara River, there is the potential for ice to impact the shoreline and potentially cause property damage. The National Weather Service said that areas south of the river along Route 5 in Hamburg, the Buffalo Harbor, Canalside and the Dunkirk Harbor could potentially be affected.
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Dillon Morello is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has been part of the News 4 team since September of 2023. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter.
