Powerful storm dislodges old iron boat closer to Niagara Falls
A slow-motion drama is unfolding at one of North America's most famous tourist sites, days after a powerful storm blew through the region on Halloween night. It's happening at Niagara Falls — upriver on Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side, where an old iron boat has been stuck on the rocks for more than a century.
The so-called "iron scow" or "Niagara scow" has been rusting at that spot since 1918, but it has moved when a powerful storm dislodged it some 150 feet down river. Authorities now fear the current could send the vessel over the Falls.
"It appears to have sort of flipped on its side and spun around," Jim Hill, superintendent of heritage at the Niagara Parks Commission, described in a Facebook video. The group's CEO David Adames told Canada's CBC News it will try to confirm exactly how far the boat has moved.
Those who are following the news of the "iron scow" can even get a glimpse of it from Google Earth.
The 80-foot vessel has been a tourist attraction for decades after it apparently broke away from its tugboat in August 1918 and eventually getting stuck in the upper rapids, according to Niagara Parks' website. Ever since that event, it has been deteriorating in the current until it began moving Thursday.
Officials don't have a timeline for when the vessel might go over the Falls, but are keeping a close eye, including surveillance video, according to CBS affiliate WHIO-TV.
"It's stuck where it is now and it could be stuck there for days or could be stuck there for years," Hill said. "It's anyone's guess."
