Flooding Continues to Disrupt Barge Traffic

This article has been reprinted from the May 30 USDA Grain Transportation Report.

On-going highwater conditions continue to disrupt barge traffic on most of the inland waterways.

On the Upper Mississippi River there are multiple lock closures.

As of May 30, all traffic through St Louis is stopped, as the Mississippi River gauge there was 42.4 feet and rising.

The Coast Guard stops all traffic at St. Louis when the river gauge exceeds 38 feet.

The National Weather Service’s forecast doesn’t show the river levels dropping below 38 feet until mid-June.

Barge traffic is also stopped on the Lower Illinois River and much of the Arkansas River.

The Ohio River and the Lower Mississippi River are open but traffic is delayed by high water conditions.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports saturated soil levels throughout the Mississippi River Valley Basin are at 25-year highs.

Additional rain, coupled with the saturated soils, may bring faster runoff and rapid jumps in river stages.