Prince George ice jam persists despite warmer weather

Even though the weather has warmed up, the ice jam in Prince George, B.C., which is now six kilometres in length, will likely remain for the next few days, city officials said Friday.

The wall of ice has caused flooding in  homes and businesses along the Nechako River and more than 80 of them remain under an evacuation alert, officials said.

The northern city has enjoyed highs of 5 C in the last couple of days, but city spokesman Kevin Brown said it needs to get a lot warmer before the ice jam will melt.

"The warmer weather of the past 48 hours has resulted in some of the larger pieces of ice coming free," Brown told CBC News Friday evening.

"But as we have learned from our river ice experts, we do need a prolonged period of double-digit, plus-side temperatures for a number of days to really begin to make a major impact in terms of reducing the amount of ice in the river through melting and clearing some of those areas."

The city has already spent more then $1.5 million fighting floods caused by the ice jam and most of the money has been used to prevent further flooding, Brown said.

Officials have been building dikes and pumping out homes and yards since flooding began four weeks ago.

Some experts predict the Nechako River may not clear up until spring, he said.