Coast Guard closes two stretches of river as Mississippi falls

The Coast Guard on Wednesday closed two stretches of the Mississippi River as the waterway approached record low levels in some areas, contributing to groundings of at least five tows of barges since mid-Tuesday.

The closures of two-mile stretches near Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis' Jefferson Barracks bridge remain in effect for all vessels until surveys today assess the navigability of the river, the Coast Guard said.

The move came a day after the Coast Guard issued a safety advisory, asking barge operators to limit operations on 185 miles of the Mississippi from St. Louis south to Cairo, Ill.

The advisory hasn't severely affected Cape Girardeau-based Missouri Barge Lines, said manager Bruce Engert.

"Not here at Cape, things aren't too bad," Engert said. "We have a boat in the St. Louis area that's waiting to have it cleared up. But there's no major impact on us yet, no."

At Cape Girardeau, the river stage was 5.8 feet Wednesday. Forecasts from the National Weather Service called for the river to drop to 4.6 feet by early next week. If the river gets that low, it may cause more groundings and problems with docking, Engert said.

"If it stays cold and we don't get some runoff, it might get patchy," he said. "But it's really hard to tell."

Tuesday's advisory was issued after a towed barge loaded with ethanol ran aground near Hartford, Ill. No injuries or pollution problems were reported.

Two other barges that have run aground were hauling benzene, the Coast Guard reported. Benzene, a colorless liquid that evaporates quickly, is a known human carcinogen that became a regulated hazardous waste in 1990.

Dry and cold

A dry fall and below-normal temperatures in the upper river basin have left the Mississippi at near-historic low levels near St. Louis, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. On Wednesday, the river was more than 4 feet below the preferred low-water mark of 12.5 feet.

Based on National Weather Service forecasts, that level could continue falling, closing in on the record low of 6.4 feet below the mark set Jan. 16, 1940.

Drought also is causing the Army Corps of Engineers to limit navigation on the Missouri River.

Alarmed by low storage levels in the Missouri's reservoir system, the corps plans to reduce the navigation season by five days in November, with a final determination to be made in March.

The corps says the Missouri is down about 2 feet from normal in both directions from Omaha, Neb.

And on the Illinois River, a 12-barge tow ran aground near Florence, Ill.

On the Mississippi, the low water level also forced the Casino Queen in East St. Louis, Ill., to close Tuesday because customers could not get on board. The casino was to reopen this evening, general manager Craig Travers said Wednesday night.

"We have crews working around the clock to dredge the river bed underneath the area where the boat should be docked," Travers said.

The closure marked the first time the 9-year-old casino has temporarily halted business because of river levels, having managed to remain open even during the historic floods of 1993.

As of Wednesday night, the Coast Guard said, four of the five groundings on the Mississippi happened in the area covered by Tuesday's safety advisory, with remains in effect until conditions improve.

No injuries or pollution were reported with any of the groundings, which included eight barges briefly breaking free from a 20-barge tow that ran aground Wednesday morning near Ste. Genevieve.

In its advisory Tuesday, the Coast Guard advised shippers to limit the number of barges they tow and the amount of material in the barges.

Dredging helped keep the river's navigation channel open for barges last fall and during the early winter. The corps said it will resume dredging this week.

River levels are normal above St. Louis because of a lock-and-dam system that maintains a 9-foot-deep navigation channel. But ice on the river this time of year prevents commercial barge traffic above St. Louis.

Southeast Missourian business editor Scott Moyers contributed to this report.