BISMARCK – The North Dakota Department of Emergency Services, along with the North Dakota National Guard, are celebrating the success of innovative approaches to resolving an ice jam that threatened Bismarck neighborhoods with flooding.

On Feb. 27, an ice jam started forming on the Missouri sand bars south of BIsmarck-Mandan, backing up heavily lodged ice about 10 miles through the area and causing river levels to rise steadily. With water levels rising from 9.56 feet to 12.24 feet the next day, N.D. Department of Emergency Services pulled together a briefing with local, state, and federal agencies to share intel and discuss ways to resolve the problem.

Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann, who functions as both the adjutant general of the North Dakota National Guard and as the director of the Department of Emergency Services, was part of the Unified Command structure leading the mission.

“While we were discussing more conventional ice thinning solutions, someone brought up using the weight and force of water dropping from the Bambi buckets. We decided to move forward in testing this option, sending one helicopter to the river to begin scooping and dumping water onto the ice,” he said. The helicopter crew saw a 20-foot by 20-foot section of ice clear right away.

“The team took a rapid, innovative approach. There was a lot of respect around the table from the different agencies looking at the problem from their own perspectives and expertise. We need to deal with the emergency, but we also need to deal with it in a way that doesn’t bring harm to our natural environment,” Dohrmann said.

Two NDNG UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters dropped 116 buckets of water, each containing the weight of an F-150 pickup truck, onto the leading edge of the ice jam. Shortly thereafter significant ice chunks loosened and began flowing. The river crested at the same time, reaching 15.43 feet, which is only a half foot shy of moderate flood stage. After the leading edge broke, allowing ice to separate and flow, the Missouri river levels dropped nearly two feet in just over two hours.

“I think this is a success and absolutely other states could look into this as an example if they have a similar problem in the future. Use this experience and these techniques and put into their decision matrix to see if it’s the right fit for their situation,” said Maj. Ryan Nordstrom of the North Dakota National Guard.