Truro Mayor Bill Mills said ice jammed the river about 800 to 900 metres from the Salmon River bridge to behind Stanfields Ltd.
“There’s a curve after Stanfields and after that curve, the river was open,” Mills said Sunday. “On the advice from our engineers, the town (of Truro) and the county (of Colchester) made the decision to bring that crew in to break up the ice.”
He said work was to lessen any concerns of flooding with rain in the forecast for Sunday and this week.
Environment Canada had Colchester County – Truro and south under a wind warning on Sunday, with strong west to northwest winds with gusts up to 100 km/h expected overnight and into today.
Rain at times was heavy Sunday, before changing to snow in the afternoon and evening. About 20 millimetres of rain was expected in Truro before changing to flurries.
The town and county have hired Rob MacLennan to help with the overall flood plan the two municipalities have jointly been working on since major flooding caused millions of dollars of damage in September.
“He knows the Salmon River inside and out, so he was able to tell the crews how to poke the ice and pull it back toward the excavators to make a packed ice road to get out further on the river,” said Mills. “It all went perfectly.”
Many area residents stopped at Riverfront Park on Saturday to watch the progress, which included excavators from both the Town of Truro and Webster’s Trucking and Excavating Inc.
“They did it in pretty good time and we thought it was a pro-active thing to do,” said Mills about the crew and the project.
rtetanish@trurodaily.com
