Low water may halt Mississippi River transport next week

Low water may halt Mississippi River transport next week

uk.reuters.com

(Reuters) - Commerce on a key stretch of the Mississippi River could "come to an effective halt" earlier than expected next week due to low water levels, disrupting shipments of billions of dollars of grain and other goods, a group of shippers said on Wednesday.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Considering the mass amount of water traffic the river sees, the halting of traffic is sure to create huge backups in the delivery of products. This is turn will surely cause spikes in certain product prices at the store level.

Unfortunately I have no idea how this situation can be resolved by any human intervention.

uk.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Already discussed here with photos provided several weeks back.

And it has halted traffic for a month already upstream. Search ATS for photos as well.

Its got to make the trucking companies happy, but sooner or later as it happens all up and down the river it will over tax the systems ability to cover it.

reply to post by winterkill


And whose fault is it? This is from the same article:

The move raised protests from Midwestern governors and senators who urged President Barack Obama to rescind the decision for fear that badly needed income would be lost through the disruption of commerce that flows through the river.


Surely we have people in the Corp who are smart enough to manage our waterways.Clearly Obama has an agenda as I am certain he never went to school for this.

This is covered pretty good in both of these threads.

This Fragile Earth with photos
www.abovetopsecret.com...

In BAN
www.abovetopsecret.com...

The lowest arae of the river that is giving problems is at Thebes. At this point it is higher than when they started rock removal (photos of which are in the FE thread listed). I have been updating said thread often. The river at this point is at least a foot above the level it was at it's lowest just over a week ago. As long as the river does not drop below that point again it will be fine though traffic will be slow.

If they close the river it will devistate the economy as fuel prices as well as the cost of goods will skyrocket.

Raist

thats sad to hear

it also seems that the amazon still hasn't fully recovered from the great drought of 2005 (or was it 2007)

thats one of the major problems with 'global warming'..regardless of what amount of it is 'natural' and influenced by humanities activities

reply to post by bobwilson


Last year there was record breaking or nearly record breaking flooding in the same area.

There seems to be an every other year thing going on any more. I expect that in the spring and summer of 2013 the river will be above normal records with possible flooding again.

If you look at the photos in the FE thread you will see a photo of the boat ramp in Cape Girardeau. I was able to walk nearly half way out where the river is supposed to be. Thanks to recent rains a nd snows upstream that sandbar is now most of the way under water again.

This is not global warming. There is climate change but the earth has had many climate changes in the past. Most of those climate changes have included mass extinctions. The Earth will rebound from climate change and humans will not fix or stop it. If anything the Earth will take humans out in the climate change that is coming.

Raist

Ooh my this along with the pending East/gulf Coast strike

what next

sigh....

As we close in on the New Year, and immediately following the short-lived but highly impactful west coast strike in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, we are faced yet again with another potentially more damaging strike on the East and Gulf Coasts, as well as a navigational crisis on the Mississippi River that could eventually stop traffic there.

TextI certainly wouldn’t wish this scenario on anyone, but if the anticipated work stoppage kicks off in the New Year at about the same time as the Mississippi River runs dry, people will finally start to listen – or, so one would hope.

www.maritimeprofessional.com...

Thank you to those close to the river who are giving actual reports. It really helps get a feel for what is happening

Originally posted by Raist
reply to post by bobwilson

 

Last year there was record breaking or nearly record breaking flooding in the same area.

There seems to be an every other year thing going on any more. I expect that in the spring and summer of 2013 the river will be above normal records with possible flooding again.

If you look at the photos in the FE thread you will see a photo of the boat ramp in Cape Girardeau. I was able to walk nearly half way out where the river is supposed to be. Thanks to recent rains a nd snows upstream that sandbar is now most of the way under water again.

This is not global warming. There is climate change but the earth has had many climate changes in the past. Most of those climate changes have included mass extinctions. The Earth will rebound from climate change and humans will not fix or stop it. If anything the Earth will take humans out in the climate change that is coming.

Raist

i wouldn't be too sure that 2013 will bring relief as NOAA is saying it is likely that it will continue into spring at least.

www.esrl.noaa.gov...

reply to post by LittleBlackEagle


In the first few lines I say it will be spring or summer. As someone who has lived near the river for many years now I have seen a bi-yearly raise and lower of the river as of the last few years. If the pattern continues by mid next summer the river will be just above normal levels.

It will be spring /early summer before we start to see changes in the river but by that time it will have grown well above the point it is now. Even as I type this the river has fallen less than 2 inches from this time yesterday. With the snow melting and more rain coming we will gain that back. This might not be what brings the river back to its normal state, but it will help to keep it open.

Most of the barges need a minimum of 9 feet to make their way up/down the river. In the thread with the photos (and a link to 80+ photos) you can see how low it was at just below the 4 feet mark. At this point we are holding very close to the 6 feet mark. The snow/rain we are getting at this point is not going to bring the river instantly back to normal life but it will help to keep it open.

Every other year the river gets above normal stages. Granted it might not get as high this year due to projects completed to ease flooding last year, but it will get above normal stages. Every other year we get a winter with some accumulation, in the months following that accumulation the river starts to rise. I might not be some guy at NOAA, but I am a person who has lived near the river long enough to see the patterns of its rise and fall.

My science of watching the patterns might not be exact, but it is close enough. Actually almost every time there has been flooding on the Mississippi river it has been on a year ending with an odd number.
en.wikipedia.org...

That page does not show the years it was just above normal levels only flooding levels. I have ran this through before I even seen that page. I am very comfortable in saying that in 2013 the river will get above normal levels, it might not flood. I will admit I could be wrong on the flooding point, but I stand by the rest.


Raist

Well I have come to update this thread as well as the photo thread. It seems that within the last 24 hours the river has taken a turn for the worse. The reading I have at hand shows a foot drop. The river reading at Thebes is now 4.9 feet. I was watching last night while at work as it continued to drop.

It seems I might be wrong and it could close within the week. This is seriously sickening. I do not understand how the river can change that much within 24 hours when it has held pretty good for over a week now.

We did see another 3 inches or so of snow here last night on top of the 6-8 inches we recieved the other day. There is more expected for Monday and Tuesday. This however, is for this area that needs a higher river. So we really need the stuff north of here.

Sadly though I might end up being wrong and the river would close. I find it funny how they predict the closing of a river that has held for about a week and then suddenly starts to drop. It seems they are cutting back more I guess on the supply waterways to the Mississippi. Regardless of the reason now this is incredibly sad and should be national news. Closing the river will certainly hurt the economy in a bad way. If it does close I do not think the economy could withstnad it being closed longer than a few days at most. Millions of dollars travel the river daily.

Raist

Sad news, the river stage at Thebes is at 4.4 feet. It very well might shut down this week.

I just do not understand the rate at which it is dropping. It is falling increadibly fast. At times to be nearly an inch a minute.

Raist

reply to post by Raist


I have a question. Doesn't the missouri river feed into the Mississippi river, and doesn't it help keep it flowing during low water levels?

Sorry I hit edit before I was done.

Are they restricting the flow from the missouri river?

Originally posted by Raist
Sad news, the river stage at Thebes is at 4.4 feet. It very well might shut down this week.

I just do not understand the rate at which it is dropping. It is falling increadibly fast. At times to be nearly an inch a minute.

Raist

I thought I read or heard it was because of ice blockage? Also, could you explain specifically the negative impact this might have? Certainly, the blockage is temporary and there are other waterways and avenues of transporting goods. Maybe the cost of transporting might go up temporarily but I guess I don't understand the implications fully.

Thanks.

www.examiner.net... ver-water-releases

I hope I did that right.

So this is part of the issue.

reply to post by crappiekat


As i understand it (and i mivht be wrong) all the sources are limiting their infeed due to drought.

The Missouri does feed the Mississippi, but that is only one source.

Raist

reply to post by Gridrebel


Millions of dollars travel the river daily. In this part of the country it is the fastest and cheapest way to reach the gulf.

Speaking with someone in the thread in my signiture it takes 8 rail cars to cover one barge I think. This uses far more fuel and costs more though. Also a great deal of goods going over seas to places like China travel the river.

This is a major influence on the economy. I have not read about ice blockage yet.

Raist

reply to post by crappiekat



Yes that is a part of it. The drought is hurting all the feed sources.


Raist