Ice Jams on the Humber near my house - Aftermath

[Malthus]

The Humber is a small river in Toronto where I regularly walk - but not this weekend. The park that borders the Humber was covered with the remains of a huge ice jam, and was basically impassible. It looks like large areas of the park have been erased by the grinding ice. A weird sight.

The ice is filled with bits of the trees it has destroyed:



An ice island, showing the thickness of the ice sheets - in places, 2-3 metres:



Trees ground into pulp by the ice:



This was the path down into the park:



Remains of the jam piled up against the bridge:



This used to be a grove or ornamental trees:



The road into the parking lot - now, with warning signs. 

[viper37]

signs aren't bilingual.  No pity for the Francos who could wander in a dangerous area

It's terrible all the damage ice and water can do.  I hope the park is repaired for summer time.

Fortunately for me, there is a very, very small river near me, but it's so low that there is no danger it would ever flood me.

[crazy canuck]

Danger, do not enter -  so of course Malthus entered and did all the things the signs said not to do. 

But I appreciate the pictures. 

[mongers]

Malthus's garden in the Spring:

[Valmy]

What a noble and dedicated milk man.

[The Brain]

Isn't ice island iceland?

[Malthus]

Danger, do not enter -  so of course Malthus entered and did all the things the signs said not to do. 

But I appreciate the pictures. 

I like to live dangerously. 

Though the actual dangers are, in fact, all in the past - of getting caught in the flooding and ice grind. This is just the aftermath.

[Admiral Yi]

signs aren't bilingual.  No pity for the Francos who could wander in a dangerous area

[Malthus]

Heh, in context, the multiple signs are somewhat confusing.

This is the driveway to the parking lot, now covered in ice chunks. One sign says "area closed", does that mean the whole park or the parking lot? Do the signs mean you can't walk in, or can't drive in? The signs say "beware of flooding" and "ice unsafe", but those are clearly very specific warnings that don't apply here. Also, they tell you the walkways are not maintained, so use at own risk.

[PDH]

Quit trying to justify your breaking the sign law warnings, scofflaw.

[Malthus]

Quit trying to justify your breaking the sign law warnings, scofflaw.

My sense of adventure got the better of me. 

What was funny, was that there was the occasional urban dog-walker attempting to take the path, crawling over ice and logs and through mud - it was clearly their usual route, and they weren't going to let a little thing like an ice apocalypse disrupt their routine!

[Malthus]

An update: I went back to the park, now that all the ice has long since melted.

The park is a mess, and will be for years I think. The damage the ice tsunami did was pretty spectacular.

View from above:



View from the ground, other side:



This sign was smashed to the ground & covered with flood debris, which kinda highlights the importance of its message (certainly anyone dumb or unlucky enough to be there at the time would have been killed - as far as I know, no-one was hurt)



These were plaques at a park information kiosk-like area, the tsunami snapped and twisted the metal:

[The Brain]

Nature is a stern mistress.

[Valmy]

Remind me to avoid the dangerous environment of Toronto, Ontario.

[Caliga]

Humber is a dumb name.  Ohio is a much better name for a river.