Rising Mississippi River may affect local barge companies

HICKMAN, KY — The rising Mississippi River could cause a problem for barges traveling through our area. The river’s levels at the Hickman-Fulton County Riverport are expected to crest at 48.5 feet next week.

“It could affect us because of the wheat harvest,” said river port director Greg Curlin. “That’s usually when we start harvesting wheat, and we start loading wheat and we cant get barges out of the harbor or under the spouts.”

Barge companies can work at a flood stage of 40 feet, but the river port director says barge companies start individually making decisions to stop operating once levels reach about 45 feet.

At 50 feet, the river port stops all loading and unloading of barges. In March, the Ohio River rose to 55 feet this year, and they had to stop. That affected farmers waiting to receive supplies south of our area.

For now, Curlin said everything is running, but they’ll have other impacts from the high river levels.

“We’re going to see a problem with the harbor, because it’s going to be bringing in a lot of silt that doesn’t come in when we have regular high waters. It’s going to bring a lot of silt.”

Silt is a mix of clay and sand that will be left over after the river level goes down. The river port has already scheduled a dredging session for the silt this summer.

_{Source: wpsdlocal6.com}