In a fiction story I am currently writing, I have this situation.
It's early spring, and a river in a mountainous region has just broken up the ice, and moves it downstream. Naturally, ice jams are forming along the way.
Two characters, the main one and another, ride into a nature park, crossing a bridge over a canal connecting the river with ponds designed to relieve the river of excess water during this period of the year, thus protecting the city downstream from floods.
When they ride back, ice jams destroy the bridge before their eyes.
The question is, would this be possible if the bridge were built of stone? If generally not, are there circumstances under which it might happen?
If a stone bridge can't be destroyed in this fashion under no circumstance, what material could this bridge have been built that could survive almost all cases until this situation?
