Recently it was proposed that a sudden drainage of accumulated Arctic sea ice could have caused cold climate events during the last deglaciation. To explore this mechanism, we performed numerical experiments with an atmosphere-ocean-sea ice model. In these experiments, the impact of a large flush of Arctic sea ice was compared to a reference glacial state of the climate. In our results, the sea ice flush produces a major surface freshening of the North Atlantic Ocean and a 17% weakening of the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Together with an increase in surface albedo, this weakening in ocean circulation leads to a cooling over the North Atlantic, extending to the downwind continents. Compared to our reference glacial state, the cooling reaches 5°C and lasts about 80 years. This climate anomaly is similar in magnitude and duration to relatively short cooling events during the last deglaciation, such as the Older Dryas, the Inter-Allerød cold period and the Preboreal Oscillation. We thus conclude that the sea-ice flush mechanism is consistent with the occurrence of such cooling events in the North Atlantic region. However, longer cooling events such as the Younger Dryas would require additional mechanisms.