Selkirk dealing with frazil ice

The ice has moved out of the Red River in Winnipeg, putting a rest to most flood fears in the capital this spring.

But big slabs of ice are piling up north of the city. It’s an amazing sight, but also a potential problem for flood prone areas.

The frazil ice-which was broken up and then re-frozen-makes things difficult for ice breaking crews.

The province’s Amphibex machine was rolled out late Friday afternoon to help chip away at the 3 km ice jam that has formed along the Red River north of Selkirk at Sugar Island.

It’s also part of a training exercise.

The machine’s manufacturer from Quebec is teaching operators how to break up ice during an ice jam.

"These machines are used to break ice and break solid ice and we’ve not had the opportunity to really put them in the water and move them around in frazil ice condition," said Selkirk Mayor David Bell.

The Amphibex has never worked in frazil ice conditions before, because the ice is too thin to hold the machine, but now it’s been upgraded

“The bigger bucket has allowed the weight out more, so they can get out to a little bit thinner ice," said St. Clements Mayor Steve Strang

The ice jam should break up with warmer weather expected this weekend, but that could pose other problems.

"When you get warmer weather, you know it means melting ice. And more melting ice means more coming down this way," said Bell.

Major flooding is unlikely, but if the ice doesn’t break up, river levels could rise suddenly.

"I never second guess Mother Nature and I always say “˜expect the unexpecetd’," said Strang.