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The web cam on the Kennebec River at Augusta serves as a continuous visual representation of the status of the river in the most flood prone river reach in Maine. In conjunction with the real-time stage gage at the Father Curran Bridge (station 01049320), the web cam both confirms the stage being reported from the gage, as well as provides a unique real-time view of the ice processes in the river.
The Father Curran Bridge is the lower bridge visible in the background of the web cam image. The National Weather Service has set the flood stage for the Kennebec River in Augusta at 13 feet, which is approximately when the river enters the parking area as seen on the left side of the web cam image. Although long term records at Augusta are not available, this stage is equalled or exceeded on an annual basis, and often several times a year. At approximately a 2-5 year recurrence interval, the buildings farther to the left in the web cam image are flooded (downtown Augusta) . The peak stage of record is 34.1 ft, recorded on April 2, 1987. On the web cam image, this stage is at the low steel of the Father Curran Bridge and approximately 15 feet deep in the buildings on the left. In the last two winters, large freeze-up ice jams have occurred in this reach of the river.
Although several historic ice jam floods have occurred in the lower Kennebec River basin, these are the first known freeze up jams in the Augusta area, and have caused increased awareness of the potential for spring ice-jam flooding. Both the web cam and the stage gages in Augusta are part of a multiagency State-Federal cooperative effort to mitigate the effects of possible flooding. Other parts of the effort include real-time ice-out sensors installed by the Corps of Engineers-CRREL and ice monitoring training for local emergency management officials sponsored by the Maine Emergency Management Agency.
Historically, the occurrence of ice jams on the lower Kennebec River, near Swan Island, have increased the magnitude and severity of spring flooding on the river, including in the towns of Hallowell and Gardiner, Maine (down river of Augusta, Maine). As a result, peak stages can be caused by the combination of river ice and moderate spring flows. For example the 1987 flood flow was larger than the 1936 flow but the 1936 flood height was higher than the 1987 height.
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 Kennebec River at Hallowell (heights marked at 136 Water St.) |
Five largest historic peak flows measured at the Waterville gage on the lower Kennebec River
| YEAR | DISCHARGE IN CUBIC FEET PER SECOND |
|---|---|
| 1987 | 194,000* |
| 1902 | 157,000 |
| 1936 | 154,000 |
| 1923 | 135,000 |
| 1896 | 113,000 |