OTTAWA — One good blast of water deserved another. But it didn’t do any good. City public works crews tried to clear a massive log jam against the Prairie Spirit Trail bridge over the Marais des Cygnes River. The big rains dislodged and sent wood and other debris floating down the swollen and fast-moving river, Ottawa public works director Michael Haeffele said. The debris piled up against the bridge and with the river moving fast and rising quickly, it posed a danger to the bridge. He said the log jam accumulated at such a fast rate that crews could not keep up. With the log jam growing, Haeffele called the fire department Thursday afternoon. Firefighters blasted d water from a fire hose to try to dislodge the debris, Fire Chief Tim Matthias said. They had little success in breaking apart the log jam and they quit after an hour, Matthias said. When the river started dropping, Haeffele said the log jam became less of a threat to the bridge and public works crews kept an eye on it through the weekend.
Monday, May 2, 4 p.m.
