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Published: Tuesday, 3/17/2015 - Updated: 2 days ago

River’s ice wrecks cemetery, parks

In Maumee, headstones toppled; Perrysburg Twp. site closed

BY MIKE SIGOV
BLADE STAFF WRITER

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Chunks of ice are strewn along River Road outside of Riverside Cemetery in Maumee on Monday. The cemetery and nearby Side Cut Metropark sustained significant damage because of ice that broke free from the Maumee River. Chunks of ice are strewn along River Road outside of Riverside Cemetery in Maumee on Monday. The cemetery and nearby Side Cut Metropark sustained significant damage because of ice that broke free from the Maumee River.
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Side Cut Metropark and the adjacent Riverside Cemetery in Maumee were among Toledo-area locations hit the hardest by debris from ice jams breaking up along the Maumee River, officials said on Monday.

“Devastation, in a word,” Joe Camp, Maumee’s public-service director, said when asked to describe damage to the Riverside Cemetery, which is adjacent to the park. “You have 90 percent of the headstones toppled by the ice. You have probably half the cemetery covered with ice chunks a minimum of a foot to 18 inches thick and about 4 feet high.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Ice damages Riverside Cemetery in Maumee

The park was littered with massive chunks of ice that looked like dirt-stained slabs of concrete.

“We have fairly significant damage, with lots of park amenities damaged or removed by the ice flow,” Jeff Baney, Wood County Park District assistant director, said. “We have fences, gates, and informational kiosks damaged or gone.”

 

Parks and roads that are closed in Perrysburg Township and Maumee, including Side Cut and the cemetery, were likely to remain closed for days, if not weeks, because of ice accumulation on the river, officials said on Monday.

Also affected was a Perrysburg horse farm. The owners and staff at River Hollow managed to get more than 20 horses out of the way of ice jams to higher ground.

Maumee officials survey damage to Riverside Cemetery, where many headstones were toppled by ice that covered much of the grounds. Maumee officials survey damage to Riverside Cemetery, where many headstones were toppled by ice that covered much of the grounds.
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River Hollow has been along the banks of the Maumee since the 1960’s, but it has been more than 30 years since the farm has been turned into acres of ice.

In addition to the cemetery and the Metropark, officials reported damage to structures at Buttonwood-Betty C. Black Recreation Area in Perrysburg Township.

Also, North River Road remained closed Monday near the I-475/​U.S. 23 overpass in Maumee, according to Maumee police.

Mr. Camp said River Road between I-475/​U.S. 23 and Jerome Road was blocked with ice and fallen trees.

Also, a stretch of road a mile and a half long that cuts through the park and the cemetery was damaged, mainly the stone berm that’s been washed away, Mr. Camp said.

Park rangers closed Buttonwood on Sunday after an ice dam broke on the Maumee River, overflowing the banks with large chunks of ice. Hull Prairie Road, which provides access to the park, was closed north of West River Road, the Wood County Park District said.

“Those locations are still closed and will be for a couple of weeks, probably, because there is no access to the park,” Mr. Baney said.

Remnants of ice flow are deposited up to the hill at Hull Prairie Road, he said.

Sightseers gathered at Buttonwood, as well as Side Cut Metropark and other parks along the river throughout the weekend to get a look at the massive river ice, which began to break up and move downstream in large pieces last week.

Ice falling from a downtown bridge contributed to a large vessel breaking free Sunday on the Maumee River near the I-75 bridge.

From left, Trish Hausknecht, Metroparks volunteer services manager,  Bob Simon, Maumee construction supervisor, and Nancy Jomantas, Metroparks volunteer coordinator, walk past piles of ice along River Road in Side Cut Metropark. From left, Trish Hausknecht, Metroparks volunteer services manager, Bob Simon, Maumee construction supervisor, and Nancy Jomantas, Metroparks volunteer coordinator, walk past piles of ice along River Road in Side Cut Metropark.
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Around 3:18 p.m. authorities responded to reports that a large ice mass had broken free from the bridge and struck the moored freighter, the Sarah Spencer.

Pressure from the ice snapped 16 lines holding the vessel and pushed it down river, Toledo police said.

The 594-foot, Canadian-flagged ship sustained two holes in its hull after striking moorings.

The ship’s rear also struck the river bottom. It then became stuck between ice and the river, police said. The freighter did not spill cargo or fuel into the river, authorities said.

The ice melt has caused flooding in portions of the area since Thursday.

“I think the worst is behind us now,” Tom King, a senior meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Cleveland, said.

“We experienced rain a few days ago. That rainfall and snow melt caused the river to rise and that is what broke up the ice,” he said.

Temperatures were in the low 60s in the Toledo area on Monday and were expected to be in the low 40s today and Wednesday and in the middle to upper 40s on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.

Contact Mike Sigov at: sigov@theblade.com, 419-724-6089, or on Twitter @mikesigovblade.


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