Loose Ice Damaging Docks

As temperatures begin to rise ice that had been jammed in the Muskingum River is starting to break free causing serious problems for boat docks.

The ice that was previously frozen bank to bank is breaking loose and as it makes its way down the river it’s tearing up docks and trees along the way.

“It’s just the ice jams up and then it was frozen bank to bank, and then as the river comes up and it moves in one piece and it took everybody’s dock out. I’ve talked to people far up and most of them lost their docks, and they lost them last year too,” said one dock owner, Chris Northrup.

The same issue did occur last year as temperatures began to rise. This year the lower water level is causing more damage to docks as they are being crushed between ice and the bank. According to Northrup the only thing people can do to prevent the problem is remove their docks from the water before it freezes each year.

“Yeah there’s nothing else you can do but take the dock out. You can’t hold them. It’s too powerful, just way too powerful.”

Northrup informed us that removing docks from the water may be a hassle but could potentially save owners thousands of dollars in damage costs.