Army Corps: Low Mississippi River levels to continue into fall, water levels near record-low
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Low water levels that are restricting shipping traffic, forcing harbor closures and causing barges to run aground on the economically vital Mississippi River are expected to continue into October, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, more than 100 tow boats and barges remain backed up near Greenville, Miss. due to the low river. The U.S. Coast Guard opened an 11-mile stretch of river that had been closed near Greenville, replacing it with a 5-mile zone where only lighter vessels can pass.
Speaking at a meeting of Corps officials, water control managers and business people in Memphis, Major Gen. John W. Peabody said that five harbors — in Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi — are closed, and several others have limited access due to low water levels along the nation's most important inland waterway.
Peabody, commander of the Corps' Mississippi Valley Division, said the Corps plans to dredge those harbors as soon as it can to allow tow boats and barges to enter and get close enough to docks to unload their materials. Farms and other businesses rely on materials such as grain, feed and fuel that usually arrive by barge to smaller harbors.
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