Mississippi River Below Flood Stage – Here Comes The Barge Traffic!

Despite the heavy rain all day Wednesday, the Mississippi River is at levels we have not seen in over 3 months.  Levels below flood stage!

No longer do you have the red flood alert message on your weather app if you are anywhere upriver from Muscatine.  After a record 96 days above flood stage at the Quad Cities Lock and Damn 15, the waters fell below 15 feet.  Which means the river is back open for business.

The Army Corps of Engineers announced that all locks are back open from Dubuque to Missouri.  Which means here comes the barge traffic!  Other than a few coming through during the spring, it's been basically shut down.  Now, with the flooding over traffic is expected to be very heavy as the barges that have been waiting will be on the move.  Which also means you'll need to watch the bridge for when it needs to be open and closed.

Even though there is more rain in the forecast over the next couple weeks, it is not expected to push levels over the flood stage again.