The Mississippi River from Illinois to Louisiana has seen water levels plummet due to drought condit

enlarge This family watches a barge pass along the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, Miss., Thursday, July 26. 2012. In a switch airline cheap discount tickets of extremes, the river has dropped to very low levels this summer unlike last year when the river was flooding much of the Delta due to record high levels. The sand in the background is usually underwater. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Tippets said the area is currently being surveyed for dredging and a Coast Guard boat is replacing eight navigation markers. He says 40 northbound vessels and 57 southbound vessels were stranded and waiting for passage Monday afternoon.
Tippets said it is not immediately clear when the river will re-open. A stretch of river near Greenville was also closed in 1988 due to low water levels caused by severe drought. The river hit a record low on the Memphis gauge that year.
The Mississippi River from Illinois to Louisiana has seen water levels plummet due to drought conditions in the past three months. Near Memphis, the river level was more than 12 feet lower than normal for this time of year.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is using dredges to dig out sand and ensure the navigation channel airline cheap discount tickets is deep enough for barges loaded with coal, steel, agricultural products and other goods. The Corps is required to provide a minimum navigation channel that is 9 feet deep and 300 feet wide on the lower Mississippi River.
Shippers who move material up and down the river on a daily basis have complained that the shallow river is forcing them to lighten the loads on their barges to avoid hitting bottom. Lighter loads mean less revenue for the shippers, who still have to deal with costs such as labor and fuel.
The river level in Memphis was minus-8.5 feet on Friday, according to the Corps of Engineers. The "minus" reading does not mean the river is dried up it's just a measurement based on how the Memphis river gauge is designed. airline cheap discount tickets Essentially, the reading means the river level is far below normal.
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