Officials send more warm water from nuclear plant to melt ice in Kankakee River
WILMINGTON, Ill. (CBS) -- Will County emergency officials are stepping up their efforts to break up ice jams on the Kankakee River – nearly 50 miles southwest of Chicago.
The Will County Emergency Management Agency and Constellation Energy is tripling the amount of warm water being siphoned from the Dresden Generating Station cooling lake. There are three siphons of warm water from the nuclear plant cooling lake, and all have been turned on.
Just one was turned on Wednesday.
The water is normally used to cool the nuclear power plant, but it is warm enough to melt ice. All three siphons were turned on at noon.
"By opening all three lines of warm water into the river, we can begin melting the historic levels of ice that has created a public safety risk for nearby residents," Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant said in a news release. "This is a crucial step to safeguard lives and protect property in communities along the river. I'm urging residents to remain alert for the potential of flash flood conditions as ice begins to thaw."
A flash flood watch that was issued in parts of Will and Grundy County due to the ice jam was canceled Friday afternoon, but a flood warning remained in effect until further notice along the Kankakee River from near Kankakee to near Sun River Terrace in Kankakee County.
The ice acts like a dam and it's forcing water to pool into people's backyards. Fingers of the river bloated and froze over onto neighbors' properties.
The freezing temperatures that cause ice jams to form are expected to last at least until next Monday. The City of Wilmington opened up a sandbag filling station in the parking lot of city hall for residents to use to help protect against flooding.