Vehicles that fell through the Ice

Aside from vehicles, people sometimes fall through the ice unassisted by heavy machinery when the fates have decided they need to cool off.

5/7/11 Larry falls through the ice. I called Dale and he called Shawn and Larry, who skipped their snowmachines to shore and shoved Styrofoam blocks out for me to climb out on. The ice shard I'm holding is eleven inches long, so that's the ice depth. No thickness of shard ice is safe. Shawn Veech photo

Carolyn fell through 50 feet in front of the Haggard cabin, and survived. 11/19/07 - Carolyn Haggard photo
Taylor, "Is the hole frozen over now?"
Carolyn, "I don't know, and I'm not all that anxious to find out."

Last in, first out:
The last vehicle to go through the ice in 2009 was a snowmachine that broke through in the Flat Lake Channel on New Year's Eve. It was then the first pulled out in 2010. Photos when everyone was dried off and warmly dressed that morning are posted in the center and right columns to remind people not to drive (or ride) through the channels (which are now posted "Thin Ice"). Water flows through the channels and at the Big Lake outlet at Fish Creek, keeping the ice thin even though it was -10 ºF New Year's Eve. (It was the second snowmachine that went through after the first broke the ice.) - Larry Taylor

1/1/10

Safe and warm after going through the ice in the Flat Lake Channel.

1/1/10

OK, where do we hook onto it...

1/1/10

What's that warning sign on the bushes?

1/1/10

Aha! The sign says "Thin Ice!"

1/1/10

Good Dad retrieving the machine.

1/1/10

Maybe it looks OK, but don't ride through the channels!

12/10/09

ABC News Channel 13 takes an interest in FlatLake.com (with permission). Jeff Ross notes that this newscast says these cars went through on Flat Lake, which is not accurate. They were on Big Lake. There was thin ice when the first snow fell, so if you were not able to clear the snow off the ice early on, make sure to measure it before driving over it. Listen to Carolyn in the newscast to hear about that. For the oil truck or the septic truck to drive to your cabin this winter, have your driveway plowed to make it thicker quicker. - Larry Taylor

"The Warm Guys"
Central Plumbing and Heating. Submitted by Monika Patrick of Kathy's Restaurant, Big Lake.

17-yr old drove a Grand Am onto the ice from North Shore campground on 11/16/07. That's the trunk showing (he was rescued).
- Carolyn Haggard report and photo, and now a video of the event by Houston, called "Big Lake IQ Test":

11/16/07 3" of ice was not enough for this Grand Am 100 feet out from the North shore Campground.

4-14-07 Dodge truck series

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c

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Another truck down!
This one was on the the West End of Big Lake ... and was the 2nd vehicle to go thru this spot ... caused by ice fishermen drilling holes directly in the road. Happy Hooker got it out around 9pm Monday (4/16/07).

Todd's truck in Philpott's Cove in '05
submitted by Terry & Bridget Kincaid

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