Lake Erie ice!

I don't fish on the lake or the bays but be careful out there guys don't want to hear another report like this.
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:48 pm    Post subject:

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Careful on that ice boys.................heres the latest from Cleveland......Happened this afternoon........


CLEVELAND (AP) -- Authorities in Ohio say more than 150 people have been rescued from a miles-wide slab of ice that floated away from the Ohio shoreline of Lake Erie.

Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton says one person died.

Authorities say fishermen apparently used wooden pallets to create a bridge over a crack in the ice so they could go farther out. But the planks fell into the water when the ice shifted, stranding the fishermen about 1,000 yards off shore.

The National Weather Service says ice on western sections of Lake Erie is up to 2 feet thick, but it started to crack as temperatures rose above freezing and wind gusting to 35 MPH pushed it.

Ice fisherman say this winter's thick ice has lured more people to the lake this year. One nearby resident says, "There was a heck of a city out there for the last week and a half."

The Ohio Division of Wildlife says it warns fishermen every year that there's no such thing as "safe ice."

The Coast Guard says several ships and helicopters are still working to rescue people. Officials believe there were a total of about 200 people on the ice.

Responding agencies include: U.S. Coast Guard Air Stations Detroit, Traverse City, Mich., and Elizabeth City, N.C.; U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, U.S. Coast Guard Stations Toledo, Ohio, Belle Isle, Mich., St. Clair Shores, Mich., and Marblehead, Ohio; Canadian Coast Guard; Ohio State Patrol, Monroe County Sheriff; Jervis, Carol and Washington Townships; Toledo Lifeflight.

Rescuers are staging out of Crane Creek State Park in Oak Harbor, Ohio.

"We don't know why the people were on the ice," said Lt. David French, Ninth Coast Guard District Public Affairs Officer. "Right now our primary goal is to safely remove all the people from the ice floe."