Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (May 24/02) - One simply cannot underestimate the force of millions of tons of ice when it wants to move.

Some people wondered, given the late time of year, whether the ice on the Mackenzie and Liard rivers would go out with a fizzle or deafening roar.

Superintendent of transportation Les Shaw was definitely siding with the latter.

"Let's put it this way," said Shaw, Tuesday morning. "There's enough ice there to keep the river up for some while."

Within a matter of hours the previous Thursday morning, house-sized blocks of ice had pushed there way 100 feet up the banks of the Liard River at the ferry crossing.

Shaw said crews worked all weekend clearing both sides of the ferry landing with bulldozers in attempt to get the Lafferty up and running by yesterday afternoon.

The Lafferty itself, although parked far up the bank, had huge chunks of ice pushed up against its hull. "It was quite dramatic really," said Shaw, but not without a chuckle. "It was a worst case scenario. We always get some ice, but nothing like that."

Breakup on the Liard River officially occurred at 9:45 a.m. Thursday morning.

Randy Wedel, with the Water Survey of Canada, said the amount of water flowing out of tributaries leading into the two major rivers was unprecedented.

"We got two guys chasing high water at the tributaries all over the place," said Wedel. "We basically got record levels at the tributaries."

The Blackstone, Root and Marten rivers all surpassed their previous high water level markers.

On Saturday, Cpl. Daryl Key of the RCMP and friend Harold Prime went down to the ferry crossing to survey the damage.

"There was certainly more breakup this year than there was last year," said Key, walking among the mud and ice. "My transfer was delayed. I was supposed to be in Fort Smith this week."