AUGUSTA — Ice jammed up on the Carrabassett River Monday, prompting concerns about potential flooding in several communities along its banks.

While no major flooding was reported Monday afternoon, emergency management officials across western and central Maine kept a wary eye on the condition of rivers, swollen from the ongoing rains, warm temperatures, snowmelt and chunks of ice.

Michael Smith, emergency management director for Somerset County, said that while out checking the Carrabassett River Monday afternoon he saw an ice jam that appeared to be on the move. Initially the ice jammed up in the New Portland area, he said, but it broke loose and floated roughly 3 miles downriver to about a mile north of the village of North Anson.

“Unfortunately it appears to be in a narrower section of the river,” Smith said. “It’s jammed up pretty good, so it’ll probably be there for a bit, unless something breaks with it. But we’ve had no reports of flooding roads or incidents (of flooding) so far. Let’s keep our fingers crossed it stays that way.”

High water and ice flow on the Carrabassett River over the dam in Kingfield as residents Kerri Murphy, left, and Owen Day watch after an ice jam broke loose Monday. ‘I saw ice ripping down the river,’ Murphy said as she watched the river from her home, a short distance from the dam. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Ice jamming was also reported on the Carrabassett River in the Kingfield area and on the Sandy River near Farmington.

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings Monday for areas susceptible to ice jams and river flooding, including on both the Carrabassett and Sandy rivers.

Stephen Baron, meteorologist in the National Weather Service Office in Gray, said warm temperatures help river ice break up, then rainfall and snowmelt runoff join rivers and contribute to higher water flows, moving ice downstream. On their way downstream, ice chunks can get hung up on any number of things including other ice, narrow parts of rivers, or dams, and jam up and back up rivers, sometimes causing them to flood. They can flood behind the jam or, if the jam gives way, the rush of that release of water also can cause flooding downstream, sometimes rapidly.

“As long as you have ice in the river, it can be a threat to jam up,” Baron said Monday. “I’d say at least through today, and into tomorrow, there’s a chance for some rivers (to jam up and flood).”

In Kennebec County, the wide and flood-prone Kennebec River appeared to be largely ice-jam-free Monday.

Whitewater churns as Fall Brook flows under the bridge on Main Street in Solon Monday. The brook joins the Kennebec River nearby. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Smith said the Kennebec River in Somerset County didn’t look too bad, with some high flows but no major flooding reported.

City of Augusta officials said they’ve been closely monitoring river conditions over the past several days and the river was nearly ice-free from Augusta down to Gardiner and Randolph. As a precaution they closed part of the Front Street parking lot closest to the river.

A few chunks of ice floated freely in mostly open water between Gardiner and Richmond.

Baron said the weather service had not heard of ice jamming up on the Kennebec, as the river had flushed out much of its ice already by Monday.

However Kennebec County Emergency Management officials warned in a social media post that while flooding was not expected in Kennebec County, localized flooding could occur due to ice jam formation. They expected the Kennebec to crest just below minor flood stage Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.