The US Coast Guard on Tuesday closed the Upper Mississippi River around St. Louis to all traffic because of flood-level waters, and officials said shipping delays for all commodities moving through the river/rail hub are expected to continue for a number of days.
Water levels were above flood stages Tuesday on all 18 Mississippi River water gauges operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District.
Even with no rain in the immediate forecast, flood-level waters are projected to persist for at least the next three days, with record crests expected downriver, Corps data show.
The Mississippi River in St. Louis was at 39 feet on Tuesday morning, with a crest of 43.7 feet predicted for Thursday. The flood-stage level for the river in St. Louis is 30 feet, with an all-time water level high of 49.58 feet recorded in August 1993.
A Mississippi River terminal manager based in the St. Louis area told Platts Tuesday that coal barge traffic would be impacted by the closure, but with coal volumes lower on the river, led by a decline in export coal heading to New Orleans, there might not be a very significant slowdown.
"St. Louis is a hub, so everybody is going to be backed up no matter what you are moving," he said. "Its domestic coal from the Illinois River that would be caught up in it."
According to Corps data, a total of 816,000 st of coal, lignite and coke has moved year to date through the La Grange Lock and Dam, the final lock before the Illinois River meets the Mississippi River. In 2014, 1.34 million st moved through the lock.
Sue Casseau, spokeswoman for the Corps' St. Louis District, called the flooding on the Mississippi River a "flash event" that came suddenly and called for immediate precautions.
The abrupt change in river conditions has made things "a little chaotic," the terminal manager said, adding that there is talk that the river closure could extend south as far as Cairo, Illinois, in the next few days.
"The concern now is where does this go from here," he said. "How long is it going to clog things" up?
