The Mississippi River and its tributaries have hit record lows.
Various photos and videos on social media have revealed that water levels in the Mississippi River in the central US have been pushed to a new record low. This is disrupting vital supplies to agriculture, oil and construction materials. Furthermore, it threatens businesses, including barge and tug operators, farmers and mills.
The second longest river in the United States, the Mississippi flows 2,350 miles from Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to the Gulf of Mexico.
Tower Rock, an island in the middle of the Mississippi River, became walkable for the first time in recent memory as water levels continued to drop, according to CNN.
They also added that the river fell to minus 10.75 feet there earlier this week, according to data from the National Weather Service, the lowest ever recorded in Memphis.
The cost of transporting goods along the river increased rapidly, the The Wall Street Journal reported, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began emergency dredging to deepen the river at more than a dozen major chokepoints, where about 2,000 backup barges have been constructed.
NASA Earth took to Twitter and shared a satellite image from October 7 that shows how low the river is, with barges lined up along its shores. They wrote, “Low water levels on the Mississippi River are making it difficult to ship cargo down the river and allowing a body of saltwater to move upstream. #Landsat 9 captured a long string of powered barges on the day. October 7”.
Low water levels on the Mississippi River are making it difficult to transport goods down the river and allowing a body of saltwater to move upstream. #Landsat 9 captured a long string of powered barges on October 7. https://t.co/MvWccE0pO7pic.twitter.com/PuVHyEMKlH
– NASA Earth (but praised ) (@NASAEarth) October 21, 2022
The CNN The report adds that more than 134 million people are affected by drought conditions, which is the highest percentage of the population since 2016.
Mike Ellis, CEO of Indiana-based American Commercial Barge Line, told The Wall Street Journal.
It is also reported that the water has dropped so much that it has revealed human remains and a 200-year-old shipwreck along the new riverbank. In Missouri, people are walking across the dry riverbed to an island normally only reachable by boat.
According to the National Weather Service, river levels are forecast to remain at or near record lows at least through early November as drought persists over large swaths of the central United States.
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