US river system paralysis worsens with more storms

Many parts of the US inland waterway system were shut down again this week after another round of strong thunder storms delivered copious amounts of rain from the plains to the eastern Corn Belt.

Two barges broke loose from moorings on the Arkansas river, struck the Webber Falls dam southwest of Muskogee, Oklahoma, and sunk today, threatening the integrity of the dam. The Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) said it was assessing the situation but had not determined its severity.

The Arkansas river is also closed to barge transit until at least 1 June. The river has been running at high rates for weeks, preventing barge discharge and leading to shortages at fertilizer terminals along the river. Levels rose high enough this week to flood at least one fertilizer terminal at Muskogee.

St Louis port is closed starting 24 May until at least 1 June because of high water, although some market participants estimate it will remain closed until 5 June. This further tightens fertilizer supply along the upper Mississippi and into the Northern Plains. Fertilizer distributors had been discharging barges at St Louis to load onto unit trains for these markets. It will also prevent shipment into the Illinois river. The port had reopened on 17 May after being closed for most of the first half of the month.

The upper-Mississippi returned to flood stage following the downpour, as Lock and Dams 17, 20, 21 and 22 have all been closed, with Lock 20 remaining closed until 1 June, according to the Corps' river models. Market participants now believe the first barges will not arrive in the Twin Cities until late June or even early July.

The recent storm cycle that started 17 May deposited significant precipitation to watersheds of the Arkansas, Missouri and upper-Mississippi rivers with rainfall totals measuring about 3-6 inches across much of the major growing regions of the US and 8-10 inches from Oklahoma to western Iowa, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The Missouri river experienced a 10ft swell during the week, with water levels at Sibley, Missouri, located east of Kansas City, rising to 30.6ft, just shy of the 31ft major flood stage mark. River projections indicate that the water will recede quickly after it crest.

The flooding this spring broke the 1927 record of 135 days of high waters on 21 May, leading to the first time the Bonnet-Carre spillway on the Mississippi river north of New Orleans was opened twice in the same year, according to the NWS.