The towboat Tennessee passes Blennerhassett Island as it makes its way up an ice filled Ohio River on Tuesday afternoon. The locks at Willow Island are operating again after being shut down because of ice in the chambers. (Photo by Art Smith)

PARKERSBURG — As area rivers deal with ice due to recent freezing temperatures, officials continue to monitor local waterways for potential issues and problems.

Ice has been detected along stretches of the Ohio River, the Muskingum River and the Little Kanawha River as the area has seen temperatures dip into the lower single digits and below zero.

Hydrologist Nick Webb with the National Weather Service said Tuesday that most of the Ohio River in the immediate area was ice covered, except for the center channel where the barges go through.

The current prolonged period of cold temperatures is producing ice accumulation along the river with each passing day.

“It takes a while for something like this to happen,” Webb said. “The only thing keeping the center channel open is when the barges go through to break it up.”

Webb said the Little Kanawha River, as it gets close to the Ohio River, is iced up. However, he said that was not an unusual occurrence. He also said the Muskingum River near Marietta has been iced up lately.

“All the little tributaries are also iced up,” he said.

Wood County Emergency Services Director Mike Shook said he is continually monitoring the river levels through the National Weather Service. He keeps an eye on what is happening with the Ohio River and Little Kanawha River

“So far they are not showing any danger and a lot of things are remaining clear,” he said. “(At one point) something I saw said there could be minor to no flooding possible.”

On Monday, he said the river level was at 21 feet and flood stage was around 35-feet.

Webb said they are going to be looking at the amount of ice on the river and what the impact could be once it starts melting.

Most flooding concerns come from the breakup as the ice starts coming apart. Flooding concerns usually would also involve “a heavy rain event.”

“We are going to be monitoring that,” Webb said Tuesday. “Right now, I am not seeing any heavy rain events on the horizon for next week.

“I’m just seeing a general warmup. If this could be broken up gradually, that would be the best case scenario, but it is something we are definitely going to be looking for.”

Webb said temperatures are expected to get into the 40s and 50s by next week.

The Willow Island Locks and Dam along the Ohio River near Reno, Ohio, temporarily ceased operations due to ice build up on Jan. 28 which prevented the miter gates on the main chamber from operating properly, according to a press release from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Huntington District.

Employees at Willow Island worked to flush ice from the chamber as well as limit new ice formation through use of steam, the press release said.

The ice caused mechanical issues with the lock’s bubbler system, resulting in significant ice accumulation between the lock walls and gates. Both lock chambers were closed to navigation traffic until the ice accumulation could be removed and lock operations could safely resume, a second press release stated.

Operations were restored by Tuesday with traffic resuming through the locks, officials said.

“USACE Huntington District is monitoring conditions at all our Lock and Dam projects and working to keep our infrastructure operational to support navigation,” the press release said. “At this time, there are no other delays to lock operations within the District.”

People might be tempted to go out and walk on the frozen rivers, but Shook is advising against that. The temperatures have been warming up and the ice could be thinning out and people should not risk walking on it, he said.

“There is water flowing underneath and you just don’t know how thick the ice is,” Shook said. “Don’t go near it.”