Traffic moves down Mississippi River on Monday

A towboat moves barges loaded with coal on the Mississippi River on Monday near Cape Girardeau. Recent rains have caused the level of the river to rise, but ongoing work by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to remove riverbed rock obstructions from the shipping channel has kept the river closed to navigation daily from midnight to noon between Grand Tower, Ill., and Thebes, Ill. The river was expected to drop about 4 feet on the Cape Girardeau river gauge between Monday afternoon and early Saturday.