Niagara Falls, NY (WBEN) All eyes will be on Niagara Falls this week as a portion of the Ice Boom stuck in the falls will be removed. Plans for the retrieval mission last month fell through because of ice along the Niagara River.
New York State Parks Police will wade into the dangerous rapids above the falls Tuesday, about 100 yards above the Bridal Veil Falls, to visually inspect and prepare the field pontoon to be removed from the river on Wednesday. "We were planning to do this about a month ago. But the ice prevented us from doing that safely. So we were able to bump it to this week," says Angela Berti of New York State Parks.
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Berti says some will treat it as a training mission. "The Army National Guard guys are looking at a good opportunity to bring the helicopter in and work on hoisting things up," says Berti. She notes in 2011 they came in helped extract one of the park police boats out of the Niagara River. "It's nice to have the luxury of planning and some time to make sure that this goes off without a hitch.
The New York Power Authority will oversee the removal of the giant steel piece that broke away from the ice boom at the eastern end of Lake Erie during a 2019 wind storm and floated down the river before becoming jammed in its current resting spot.
