Winter ice break-up

Every March the ice on the Rideau River in Ottawa needs to be broken up, instead of waiting for it to melt naturally. This is mainly due to some people building on a flood plain, then complaining when the water comes into their houses during the Spring melt (geniuses, every one of them). So public money is spent dynamiting the river ice to get it flowing early and in an orderly fashion.

The side benefit? An often cool show as ice piles up at the base of Rideau Falls. The icy terrain can change daily as the ice builds up and then collapses into the river.

I was able to catch a dynamite blast towards the end of the video, and one of the airborne chunks dented a guy's van...

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• dynamite
• ice
• Rideau
• Falls

[Mudhooks]

You would think that they would stop traffic when they blast close to the falls.

I used to love watching the blasting up the river.

[93bluejay93]

I grew up right near there, and watched the ice breakups every winter :-)

[Thief13x]

pretty cool

[actorlady]

My aunt and uncle live in Ottawa:).