NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — You could call it a real power in Niagara Falls on Wednesday afternoon as the Army National Guard teamed up with the New York State Park Police to remove a missing part of the ice boom from the Niagara River near the brink of the falls
A previous attempt was waved off in March because of significant ice on the river.
They used a C-47 Chinook helicopter from the Army National Guard in Rochester to take this 30-foot-long, 4,000-pound pontoon out of the water. It was attached to slings by the officers of the Swift-water Rescue team of New York Park police who had waded through the rapids over to Bird Island.
The helicopter, which can lift up to 16,000 pounds in this configuration, then lifted it over to a parking lot on the southern tip of Goat Island. A flatbed truck is waiting to carry it back to the New York State Power Authority's property on Hamburg Street in Buffalo.
This pontoon may be re-attached to the boom or kept in reserve for future use. Other pontoons have floated at times from the boom.
The ice boom actually partially broke following the combination of strong winds, waves, and ice during a stormy period in 2019. One of those missing sections was found in Canada and another pontoon is now on display in Niagara Falls.
"It needs to get removed because it's close to the brink of the Bridal Veil Falls and underneath that is the Cave of the Winds attraction. So if that heaven forbid went over there that could be catastrophic. It's not a little stick that we're out there removing, it's a 3,500-pound piece of steel that could do a lot of damage," said Captain Chris Rola from the New York State Park Police.