Evening star., 1948-02-17
Mercury Highest
l.;
Potomac Drops
Temperature at O.;
Threut of Flood
Believed Post
Pictures ON Page B-f.l


Huge blocks of loose ice still
were piled nearly 80 feet high in
the Potomac River near. Chain
Bridge today, but Federal off,
cials declared there was no i'm
mediate danger of floods or fur
ther damage to bridges or homes
which line the river.
Park police alerted about 100
families living along the river from
the $500 block of Canal road to
Brookmont, Md, but said conditions
so far do not warrant any evacu-
ationS."
Temperature Reaches ga.
The mercury was expected to con-
tinue its upward climb to about IS
degrees this afternoon, passing the
62-degree mark registered on Janu-
ary 9. At pm. it was "a, the
highest registered since November Z.
Even this mild weather, however,
was not expected to melt the river
ice fast enough to lessen the threat
of the huge jams.
1t. Otha r. Sanders of the Har-
Dor Police surveyed the ice damage
today and reported boat clubs
around Key Bridge estimated their
damage at approximately $1,000.
Hardest hit was Dempsey's Boat
house, which gave 1t. Sanders an
estimate of S4,200 damages.
The Highway Bridge reported ice
damage to the fender pilings on the
drawspan.
At Memorial Bridge, Irving I.
Klein, food control observer for the
Corps of Engineers, estimated dam
age at SO 5000 Ice smashed and sank
a giant cluster of logs supporting a
red light which protected the up
stream District side of the draw.
Ice Rips Into Float.
At Dempsey's BoathouSe, just
above Key Bridge, ice ripped into a
new float $50 feet long by 100 feet
wide, wrecked the float, tore up the
ramps between the float and the
building and piled into the boat
house.
Harbor police requested help from
the Coast Guard and got 1t yester-
day afternoon when the Coast Guard
cutter Mohican, ITO feet long and
specially reinforced for ice break
ing, ploughed through the ice as
far as the foot of Wisconsin avenue
The Weather Bureaus river
service section reported the Potomac
was receding slowly but steadily.
The Potomac and the Shenandoah
Rivers at and above Harpers Ferry,
w. Va. according to this report, are
falling steadily and are generally
clear of ice"
Four-Mile Stretch.
The situation is becoming less
serious, the Weather Bureau re-
ported, but caution is advised be-
tween Key and Chain Bridges for
the movement of ice
Observers estimated that the ice
jam stretched for approximately 4
miles from Three Sisters Island
below Chain Bridge to about mile
north of the bridge.
Water flowing freely under the ice
repeatedly is relieving pressure
against the ice jam, but chunks of
ice moving down from Great Falls
have been joining the ice pileup.
The huge jam started forming
yesterday, as mild weather caused
ice all along the river to break up
and course its way toward Wash
ington.
Robert L. Wadsworth of the Army
Engineers engineering division said
the narrowness of the river at
Chain Bridge was responsible for
the tieup.
There has been neither enough
rain nor enough melting of snow to
cause floods by general uprising
of the Potomac, he explained. But
the, division feared that the huge
piles of Ice would divert the cours-
ing river water over the banks.
Plane to Look for Ice Jams.
Army Engineers sent out an obser-
walton plane this morning to fly up
to the mouth of the south branch
of the Potomac and up the Shenan-
doah River to Riverton, Va. Plane
observers were instructed to look for
ice jams above Great Falls which, If
they are large enough, could back up
the water
The temperature will drop to only
80 degrees tonight, the Weather
Bureau said, and tomorrow will be
fair and continued warm
Weather Bureau and Army En-
gineer officials both said, however.
that the ice peaks still are packed
too tightly together to melt quickly.
Ice choking the river beyond Chain
See WEATHER, Page A-4)