Watch: Lazy river turns into a raging torrent; ‘holy smokes!’

When Thomas Nowicki started filming the Moose River in Vermont, it was a lazy river, but moments later he got a big surprise.

When Thomas Nowicki started filming the Moose River in Vermont, it was a lazy (albeit swollen) river. Moments later, he got a big surprise, as it turned into a raging torrent.

Nowicki explained the Feb. 24 event to ViralHog, saying, “Most days when I take my walk through Saint Johnsbury, Vermont, I sit down on a rock on Elm Street and get the same picture of the Moose River just upstream from where it joins the Passumpsic River.

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“Today, I did that and then decided to take a little video of the swollen river and all of the ice in it, when suddenly a raging torrent from an ice jam upstream swept down, just a moment after I hit record!”

Nowicki’s reaction to the result of the ice dam breaking says it all: “Holy smokes!”

“It went on like this for 5 or 6 minutes before settling down and filling up completely with ice,” Nowicki said. “I have never seen anything like it!”