Local conservation officials are bracing for the potential of ice jams and flooding as we get closer to spring.
Officials with Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority (LTVCA) presented the agency’s concerns to council Monday night, explaining that the thickness of the ice this winter is similar to that of 2019.
“We had a major free flow event of the Thames River in 2018, followed by an ice jam in 2019,” said LTVCA Manager of Watershed and Information Services Jason Wintermute.
“And this year, is the first year since 2019 where we’ve had over 20 cm of ice on the Thames River. This is combined with above average water stored in the snowpack in the upper Thames River Watershed. And so that means that this year there is a greater risk than we’ve seen in the last few for flooding on the Thames River.”
Wintermute explained there are two types of flooding with different ways to prepare for it.
With excess water in the river from melting snow or heavy rain, there are usually two to three days lead time that can be used to prepare. However, ice jams occur very quickly and affect communities downstream.
“In 2025, like this year, we don’t know what the temperatures will get to, or how much rain we are going to get” said Wintermute.
“But we do know that as of March 1st, snow surveys were done in the Upper Thames Watershed and there is 173 percent more water stored in their snowpack than there is in an average year. And that is about 90 millimeters of rainfall stored in their snowpack.”
Ice jams along the Thames can also cause flooding in Chatham from backed-up excess water.
“If that happens we have to operate some of our flood control structures,” explained Wintermute.
On February 25, ice on the Thames River was measuring 23 centimeters, only slightly above ice thickness recorded in 2019.
Wintermute concluded that while there are no guarantees an ice jam or flooding will occur this spring, it is a real possibility.
“I feel that the Chatham-Kent staff here are actually quite experienced in these kind of things. Between the 2018 and 2019 flood, and all the Lakeshore flooding that we’ve seen…there is quite a bit of experience amongst the staff on how to deal with flooding and flooding emergencies,” said Wintermute.
