The swollen Mississippi River was on a rampage last week, overtopping or breaching more than 20 levees and flooding thousands of acres of Midwest cropland.
While waters began to recede in flood-weary Iowa, the high water surge continued to move south, threatening numerous communities in Illinois and Missouri. By Thursday, nearly 11 levees in the St. Louis area had been breached. River levels at Canton, Mo., reached 27.5 feet on Thursday, just short of the 27.88 mark set in 1993 and more than 13 feet above flood stage. The river was expected to crest at 40 feet in St. Louis by Saturday, more than 10 feet above flood stage and less than a foot lower than the record high reached in 1993.
Estimates of the amount of cropland affected by the floods last week ranged from 2 million to 5 million acres. Iowa Farm Bureau officials put the losses for that state alone at nearly $3 billion if flooded fields remain unplanted. Sources said 1.3 million acres of corn and 2 million acres of soybeans in Iowa are either flooded or unplanted because of sodden field conditions. Illinois officials at midweek said roughly 75,000 acres of farmland was under water.
Nearly 300 miles of the Mississippi River were closed to barge traffic because of the high water, but some locks on the upper Mississippi were slated to open as the week advanced. Locks 13 and 14 in Clinton and Pleasant Valley, Iowa, were scheduled to reopen June 18, with Lock 15 in Rock Island, Ill., expected to reopen June 19. Locks 16 through 25 remained closed late last week, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers one week earlier had predicted closures lasting possibly until early July in some areas (GM June 16, p. 1). The St. Louis harbor was expected to close on June 19 for at least five days as the river crests.
One news report estimated losses of $750,000 to $1 million per day for barge companies with vessels and tows stranded in closed sections of the river.
News reports on the rising river grew progressively more ominous as the week advanced. A levee gave way early Tuesday near Lomax, Ill., flooding thousands of acres of farmland covering about 12 square miles. The river overtopped or breached eight levees north of St. Louis overnight on Tuesday, and a levee breach in Adams County in western Illinois on Wednesday had the potential to swamp some 30,000 acres, or 47 square miles. Two more levees were breached Wednesday morning in northwestern Ill., and the Corps on Wednesday said a total of 21 additional levees in Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois were in danger of failing.
By most accounts, fertilizer terminals on the river system had emerged generally unscathed, although several sources said some sites were cut off from transportation due to flooded roads. Henry Merschman, president and CEO of Merschman Fertilizer LLC – headquartered in West Point, Iowa – told Green Markets, “We’ve been lucky and have not had major problems.”
Merschman said, however, that the levee protecting the company’s terminal at Burlington, Iowa, was being monitored 24/7, and was the scene of a tense waiting period early in the week. “We actually reached 27.5 feet at Burlington early Tuesday and it was still going up,” he said. A levee then failed across the river and caused water levels to fall several feet before continuing a second steady climb. “Once a levee breaks, it provides about a 24-hour reprieve,” he said. Water levels at the Burlington site had climbed back to 25.2 feet by Thursday morning, and were holding at that level when Merschman spoke with Green Markets Thursday afternoon.
Merschman said a direct load-out facility owned by the company was swamped last week despite sandbagging efforts, but the site was storing no product when the flood waters hit. He noted, however, that some grain elevators did not fare so well, and reports were emerging of several corn and soybean silos that burst after being flooded. Local reports said Ursa Farmers Cooperative in Warsaw, Ill., lost two of six concrete silos filled with soybeans on June 17, and Archer Daniels Midland closed grain elevators at Gulfport and Keithsburg, Ill., due to flooding concerns.
The flooded cropland continued to push up commodity prices last week, although prices dropped slightly Thursday on reports of improved Midwest weather conditions. Corn futures for July delivery fell 2.6 percent on Thursday to $7.27 a bushel from Wednesday’s record-high settlement at $7.46 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. July soybeans lost 10.5 cents on Thursday, falling to $15.455 a bushel from Wednesday’s $15.56 a bushel.
While some sources were already talking about upcoming replanting efforts in the flooded areas, others were pessimistic. Some analysts predicted that it will be too late for crops to recover or be replanted by the time water recedes in the next several weeks. As one source commented to Green Markets, “What do you do now? Do you dam the levee and start pumping, or let it drain naturally? Either way, it’ll be weeks.”
Concerns were also emerging about a toxic stew of floodwaters containing sewage, fuel, and chemicals ranging from paint to pesticides. An Associated Press report quoted Leroy Lippert, chairman of emergency management and homeland security in Des Moines County, Iowa, as saying, “If you drink this water and live, tell me about it. You have no idea. It is very, very wise to stay out of it. It’s as dangerous as anything.”
The flooding was expected to have significantly less impact on the lower Mississippi River, which is more heavily influenced by Ohio River flows. Water levels in Baton Rouge, La., on June 17 were at 28.5 feet and on their way to an expected crest of 31.5 feet on July 1, while New Orleans water levels were at 10.4 feet early last week and expected to crest at 12 feet on July 1. Flood stage is 35 feet in Baton Rouge, and 17 feet in New Orleans.