Manitoba's Amphibex machines break up Red River ice in record time

Image | Amphibex machine on Red River - Feb. 17, 2015

Caption: The Manitoba government's fleet of Amphibex ice-breaking machines started working on the Red River in the Breezy Point area north of Winnipeg on Feb. 17. (CBC)

The Manitoba government says its fleet of Amphibex machines broke up ice on the Red River north of Selkirk in record time this year.
Three Amphibex machines started working on more than 29 kilometres of river ice north of Selkirk in mid-February.
The work is now done, even though the river ice was thicker than usual, Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Ron Kostyshyn said in a news release Thursday.
The fleet of ice-breaking equipment will now move to the Icelandic, Brokenhead and Fisher rivers, then to the Portage Diversion.
The province sends out the machines every year, with the goal of reducing the risk of spring flooding caused by ice jams on the rivers.