Maud City Officials Try To Break Off Ice From Water Tower With A Shotgun

Monday, January 9th 2017, 4:39 pm

By: Aaron Brilbeck

The small City of Maud faced a serious problem over the weekend.

Ice build up on a leaking water tower raised concerns that the tower could topple.

So, the City came up with a 12-gauge solution. They opened fire on the ice Friday night with a shotgun.

"We took a few shots and tried to knock the ice off. Didn't work very well," Maud City Clerk Don Zeller said.

City leaders said they had to give it a shot, but the ice was just too thick to shatter.

Engineers said the tower was in danger of collapse.

"(We) sent them pictures and they called us and we talked with them for a little while and they said, 'yup, we need to get some of that ice off of there because it is a problem,'" Zeller said.

So, they blocked off the area and opened fire. Police said there was no danger to the public.

"Absolutely not,” Maud police Chief Patricia Bateman said. “I was contacted, told that they would block off the perimeter. They talked with the structure engineers and they said that they had everything set up."

Besides, if the tower fell on main power lines, the City would have been left with no water or electricity.

The tower began leaking around Christmas, and froze over during last week’s cold spell. The City plans to fix the leak until it can replace the almost 90-year-old water tower.

The City Council approved a measure to fix the water tower Monday night.

"This was uncharted territory for us,” Zeller said. “So, we were just kinda flying by the seat of our pants by doing the best we could."