Record flooding has caused authorities to close the Mississippi River at the port in Natchez because barge traffic could put more pressure on the levees.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough said the port was closed Monday, leaving two vessels waiting to head north and one waiting to go south. The U.S. economy could face a bill running into the hundreds of millions of dollars a day if the lower Mississippi River is closed to shipping for days or weeks, port officials said. It wasn't clear when the river would reopen to traffic.
The Mississippi River is expected to crest Saturday in Natchez at 63 feet, down a half-foot than earlier predictions, but almost five feet above a record set in 1937. The river at Natchez was already 3 feet above the 1937 level as of Monday morning. To the north, the river is projected to crest Thursday at Vicksburg at 57.5 feet, more than a foot above the 1927 record there.
It could take weeks for the water to recede to normal levels.
During the spring, the Mississippi is a highway for towboats bushing barges laden with corn, soybeans and other crops brought down from the Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi river systems. Grain and other farm products come down the river, mostly by barge but some by rail, to the Port of South Louisiana, north of New Orleans, for export. They are loaded onto massive grain carriers headed overseas.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough said the port was closed Monday, leaving two vessels waiting to head north and one waiting to go south. The U.S. economy could face a bill running into the hundreds of millions of dollars a day if the lower Mississippi River is closed to shipping for days or weeks, port officials said. It wasn't clear when the river would reopen to traffic.
The Mississippi River is expected to crest Saturday in Natchez at 63 feet, down a half-foot than earlier predictions, but almost five feet above a record set in 1937. The river at Natchez was already 3 feet above the 1937 level as of Monday morning. To the north, the river is projected to crest Thursday at Vicksburg at 57.5 feet, more than a foot above the 1927 record there.
It could take weeks for the water to recede to normal levels.
During the spring, the Mississippi is a highway for towboats bushing barges laden with corn, soybeans and other crops brought down from the Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi river systems. Grain and other farm products come down the river, mostly by barge but some by rail, to the Port of South Louisiana, north of New Orleans, for export. They are loaded onto massive grain carriers headed overseas. 
The National Weather Service has predicted that at its crest, 1.9 million cubic feet per second of water will flow past the Red River Landing if the floodway is not opened.
That would result in a crest of 19.5 feet at the Carrollton Gauge in New Orleans, which is 2.5 feet above official flood stage and just 6 inches below the top of floodwalls. 
"With a stage at Carrollton of 19.5 feet, we would have to close most of the floodgates along the Mississippi River levee within our jurisdiction," he said. "The port, Public Belt Railroad, recreational areas like the Audubon Aquarium and the Butterfly Park would have to close."
