Significant rainfall has resulted in flooding conditions, which closed multiple locks on the Upper Mississippi River.
The impacted locks are located on a 184-mile stretch of the Mississippi River, from Muscatine, IA, to Clarksville, MO.
As of the morning of October 25, rainfall has subsided, and all locks are open. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports significant delays at the impacted locks.
In addition to long queues at the locks, barge shipments are delayed by high water at St. Louis Harbor, where southbound traffic is restricted to daylight hours.
St Louis barge traffic is restricted to day light hours when the Mississippi River level is above 25 feet.
Forecasts from the National Weather Service indicate the Mississippi River at St Louis is not expected to fall below 25 feet, until October 29.
High water has impacted river traffic throughout 2018, as cumulative year-to-date down-bound grain tonnages, on the locking portions of the Mississippi, Ohio and Arkansas rivers, were 30.5 million tons, 6% lower than last year at this time.
