EAST BRADY, Pa. — People living along the Allegheny River are bracing themselves for ice jams once the weather starts to warm up.
“Mother Nature she rules… we do not. There’s no escaping it,” Tom Gilliland told Channel 11.
Tom Gilliland grew up in East Brady, and he has seen just how dangerous ice jams can be.
“The ice just starts piling up, and the water gets higher. Then it’s time to move to higher ground. The ice will destroy anything,” he said.
That’s why — when the ice starts to build on the Allegheny River — worry starts to set in for locals.
“I have a friend who lives down the road, and he lives high enough that he’s not been evacuated, but it concerns him too,” Gilliland said.
The East Brady fire chief tells Channel 11 that there aren’t any current jams blocking water flow and causing water levels to rise — but it’s something he is keeping an eye on.
The biggest concern is that the region could get a lot of rain.
“If we get a lot of rain, that gets the river up and piles everything up and that’s what causes the flooding,” Gilliland said.
Right now, the chief says there are at least five miles of ice on the river, and at this point, he wouldn’t be surprised for the water level to rise another 15 feet.
Gilliland says he’s not too worried because he has seen the ice pile much higher than it is today.
“I can remember 40 years ago. I lived up here, and we came down here, and it would be four to five times worse than this now… and the ice would be up to the bottom of the bridge,” he said.
The chief says that he will be coming down to the river daily to figure out if and when he needs to start evacuating homes.
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