In the river Skauga in Indre Fosen municipality, the ridge of ice can be somewhat reminiscent of a glacier. – We call it a robbery dam. People in Skaugdalen even have their own word for the phenomenon. And it is not often that the landscape is as jammed with ice as it is now. – I think we have to go back to 1995 to find something similar, says Knut Inge Blix Furuseth. He lives in the middle of where the ice has piled up the worst. Knut Inge Blix Furuseth has used a chainsaw on both wood and ice blocks this winter. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / news The river is in a new place Where Furuseth previously had land, there is now a river, and where the river should be, there are huge piles of ice blocks. The river must come. – The water will always find a way forward, says Blix Furuseth. Back where the river went, there are large, thick flakes of ice. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / news And for neighbor Otto Alseth, this means, among other things, that the water finds its way into the houses. Wise from previous damage, Alseth has managed with several pumps. This year he has installed a non-return valve in addition. – I have access to three more pumps in the worst case, and then I have a capacity of one thousand liters per minute, says Alseth. With the pumps he has set up, he has so far managed to keep the water out of the cellars. But there has been a lot of work to achieve it. Knut Inge Blix Furuseth and Otto Alseth are neighbours. They have a big job in keeping water away from houses and homes when ice jams are in the river Skauga. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / news Stuck in many rivers Skauga is not the only river in central Norway where masses of ice are stuck. The Sjørdals watercourse was hit hard when the ice melted in early January. Large amounts of ice blocks are still lying across the landscape and blocking it. There has also been a lot of ice in the Verdalselva. And in several smaller rivers. The Norwegian Directorate of Water Resources and Energy (NVE) says they are following the situation closely. In Stjørdalselva in Hegra, 2.5 kilometers of ice has accumulated. Photo: Morten Andersen / news – We depend on dialogue with municipalities, landowners and regulators. Through this, we manage to get enough information to keep us well informed, says regional manager for NVE region Midt, Terje Thuseth. He believes that it is difficult to say where it is worst right now. NVE indicates that the situation in the rivers is governed by local conditions. That is, of the watercourse itself, of the bottom conditions and of temperature and precipitation. And of how the river is regulated. Had to saw their way When the ice came sailing with plus degrees last time, Furuseth and Alseth had to go with a chainsaw to keep the access road open. The blocks of ice were so large and thick that they were unmanageable in the bucket of the tractor. – It has been so cold this winter that the ice has become very thick and solid and we couldn’t move the blocks of ice with the tractor without splitting it up first, says Alseth. The road was completely covered with blocks of ice. With the help of a chainsaw and a tractor, the two neighbors managed to clear the road free of ice. Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / news They live with the risk of flooding every year, but the chance of such situations as this year’s has increased after adjustments were made to the course of the river further up the valley. Now they fear that the ice will partially melt with sorbet and then freeze again. Then the barriers become total. They envision that the situation with the ice caps, as they are now, will be long-lasting. – It is difficult to say anything concrete how the situation will be going forward. Glaciation is a natural part of a watercourse’s cycle, says Thuseth. He points out that there are several people in the team who have to keep the conditions under supervision. Can change quickly – It is important that both landowners and municipalities keep up. That they observe and make continuous assessments in relation to the situation. Regional manager for NVE region Midt, Terje Thuseth, says ice formation in watercourses is a natural process and that they follow along. Photo: Morten Andersen / news Because things can change quickly. – Ice dams or floods linked to ice jams will rise very quickly. It is important that someone follows up early and secures possessions and things in basements and moves upstairs, says Thuseth. Until then, NVE is waiting. – Once an ice block has formed, there is not much to do. Then, in certain cases, you can go in with machines and make a channel so that there is a flow through and that parts of the ice can be included. But it very much depends on the size of the ice cap, says Thuseth. When the ice ridge blocks the river, the water finds new channels Photo: Ingrid Lindgaard Stranden / news At the weekend, Indre Fosen municipality attempted to create a channel a short distance down the river Skauga, using an excavator. This led to water starting to follow its own course in a part down in the valley, but that does not change the situation at Furuseth. – I think it is positive that something is starting to happen. And it is right to start far down the river, if you want to get the ice to release, says Blix Furuseth.
ttn-69
Full stop for the ice masses in the river Skauga – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
