Fire in the hole! Town turns to dynamite to clear ice dam

ONALASKA, Wis. -- When heavy machinery wouldn't clear up an ice dam on a Wisconsin creek, one community turned to more drastic measures, CBS affiliate WKBT-TV in La Crosse, Wis., reports.

Officials opted to use dynamite to blow up ice that was 6 feet deep at some points on Sand Lake Coulee Creek in the town of Onalaska.

The ice dam was causing water to build up around a dike and get close to about a dozen homes.

The town board went to lawmakers and the state Department of Natural Resources to get permits to blow up the ice.

"That fractured the ice out, and the explosions actually took what ice came out straight up in the air, came back down," said Town Chair Rolly Bogert. "There's no debris outside of the creek bed."

No homes in the area were damaged by the blast.

Crews dug out the channel after the explosion, and water was flowing by the next day.