MISSISSIPPI
RIVER NEARS HISTORIC LOWS THREATNING SHIPPING ENTIRELY BY WEEKEND (JAN 3, 2013)
Miss. River Nears Historic Lows, Shipping at
Risk
The drought-drained Mississippi River will rise
slightly later this week between St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois, but later
continue its decline toward historic lows, according to a National Weather
Service forecast.
Low water, due to the worst
U.S. drought since 1956, has already impeded the flow of billions of dollars
worth of grain, coal, fertilizer and other commodities between the central
United States and shipping terminals at the Gulf of Mexico. A further drop in
river levels could halt commercial shipping traffic entirely by this weekend,
the American Waterways Operators and the Waterways Council Inc said in a
statement on Wednesday.
Mississippi River Drying Up
A shutdown could affect more
than 8,000 jobs, cost $54 million in wages and benefits, and halt the movement
of 7.2 million tons of commodities valued at $2.8 billion, the two industry
groups said.
The Army Corps of Engineers,
which is spearheading a project to remove river-bottom rock that could impede
shipping if the river becomes too shallow, remains optimistic that the
nine-foot-deep channel, which most commercial vessels need, can be maintained.
Forecasts for warmer weather,
which would limit river-choking ice from forming, and the potential for rain
next week bolstered that outlook. The Corps is removing the most threatening
rock pinnacles near the Illinois towns of Grand Tower and Thebes first, hoping
to deepen the shipping channel by about two feet by mid-January, just before
the river was forecast to hit critically low levels.
"The Corps rock removal
contractors are making excellent progress in removing the rock obstructions
from the primary area of concern," said Major General John Peabody, the
Corps' Mississippi Valley Division Commander.
"We believe we will
deepen the channel ahead of the worst-case river stage scenario, and I remain
confident that navigation will continue," he said.
The Corps has also been
dredging various soft-bottom sections of the river nearly round-the-clock for
months to maintain a deep enough shipping channel. The vast majority of commercial
vessels need a depth of at least nine feet so shippers are closely monitoring
river gauges and forecasts.
The Mississippi River gauge at
Thebes fell from a reading of 4.45 feet late last week to four feet late on
Wednesday. It was forecast to rise to 4.2 feet on Friday morning before
slipping to 3.2 feet by next Wednesday, the lowest level at Thebes since 1988
and the second lowest on record. Gauge readings do not reflect the actual depth
of the river at a certain location because the gauges are fixed and the river's
bottom is steadily changing with the current. But they do aid navigation as a
shorter term reference point.
The Army Corps has said once
the Thebes gauge reads 2 feet, boats with a nine-foot draft, or distance
between the water's surface and the lowest point of the vessel, would be at
risk of hitting rock pinnacles there.
"We lose 9 feet of depth
for the navigation at about 2 feet on the Thebes gauge," said Army Corps
spokesman Mike Petersen. "That's when those rocks become an issue."
Zie ook:
Natuurbranden in Australië door extreme hitte
68.000 gezinnen zonder elektriciteit op Réunion na doortocht cycloon
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/960/Buitenland/article/detail/1557000/2013/01/03/68-000-gezinnen-zonder-elektriciteit-op-Reunion-na-doortocht-cycloon.dhtml
Ongewone koude eiste al meer dan 100 levens in Noord-India
http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/new-years-day-set-snow-cover-record-in-u-s/
http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/new-submarine-volcanic-eruption-off-turkeys-coast-suspected/
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