Water levels on the upper Mississippi River were starting to recede last week, but not before additional levee failures caused widespread flooding of farmland and small towns along the swollen river system. Estimates of crop damage continued to grow by the day, as did the losses sustained by barge companies due to lock closures that will remain in effect at least until early July.
Estimates of the total amount of Midwest corn and soybeans lost to flooding ranged from 3.4 million to 5 million acres last week. The American Farm Bureau Federation said flood-damaged and waterlogged corn fields in Iowa could see a 16 percent drop in statewide yields, with 1.5 million to 2 million acres of corn and soybeans either destroyed or left unplanted in the state because of the flooding.
Based on figures such as these, AFBF estimated crop losses from flooding and excessive wet weather at $4 billion in Iowa, $1.3 billion in Illinois, $900 million in Missouri, $500 million in Indiana, and $500 million in Nebraska. Iowa’s agriculture secretary put crop losses in the state at a slightly lower estimate of $3 billion.
President Bush has declared more than 103 counties in Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa as disaster areas, making them eligible for federal assistance. On Tuesday, the governors of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin asked the President to allow the federal government to cover 90 percent of disaster-related costs incurred by state and local governments, instead of the usual 75 percent.
The flooding continued to influence commodity prices, as did another round of storms that brought as much as nine inches of rain to parts of northern Missouri at midweek. On Wednesday, corn futures for July delivery moved up 17.4 cents to close at $7.30 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. Wheat futures for July delivery gained 31.6 cents to $9.016 a bushel, and soybeans futures rose 36.4 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $15.374 a bushel.
On Thursday, July corn reached an all-time high of $7.60/unit before settling at $7.5375, up 23.75 cents from Wednesday. Wheat for July delivery moved up 22.25 cents to settle at $9.24 a bushel on Thursday, while July soybeans rose 36.75 cents to $15.7425 a bushel on the CBOT.
Early in the week, the reports coming from the field seemed to echo the dire news from the previous week, with one levee after another claimed by the rising river. The Elm Point Levee at St. Charles, Mo., about 30 miles north of St. Louis, was overtopped and breached early Tuesday, bringing the total number of overtopped levees in the St. Louis District alone to 12. As of June 26, 13 levees had been overtopped in the Rock Island District between Muscatine, Iowa, and Quincy, Ill.
On June 25, the Corps reported that a total of 35 levees had been overtopped and/or breached in the upper Mississippi Valley in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. The Corps said on that date that “active flood fights” were ongoing at two levee sites within the St. Louis District and 10 within the Rock Island District.
At midweek, attention was focused on the Pin Oak levee in eastern Missouri’s Lincoln County, an earthen levee that protects some 3,000 acres of agricultural land, as well as some of the businesses and homes of Winfield. The levee had shown ominous signs of failure early in the week, and finally breached early Friday. The Mississippi was expected to crest at Winfield late on Wednesday at more than 11 feet above flood stage.
As for the levees located south of St. Louis to Cairo, Ill., the Corps said it does not anticipate any issues at these sites, but noted that “flood fight members and geotechnical experts” were working with local levee districts and county emergency agencies to closely monitor those locations.
Locks 11 through 15 on the upper Mississippi, which were opened the previous week, remained open to barge traffic last week. The Corps on June 25 issued an updated schedule for the remaining locks. Pending any changes to the river forecast, the Corps said locks 16 through 19 would reopen by June 28, and locks 20-25 will remain closed until July 2 or later. The area from lock 16 to lock 25 covers roughly 215 miles stretching from Illinois City, Ill., to Winfield, Mo. The Corps noted, however, that “additional rainfall could change some or all of these lock reopenings.”
Locks 16-18 are located at Illinois City, New Boston, Ill, and Gladstone, Ill., respectively, while lock 19 is located at Keokuk, Iowa. Locks 20-25 are located at Canton, Mo., Quincy, Ill., Saverton, Mo., Clarksville, Mo., and Winfield, respectively. The Corps said major cleanup efforts were underway last week at Locks 16-18 as water levels dropped below the top of the lock wall. For locks to reopen, said the Corps, water levels must be below lock walls and miter gates and cleanup and needed repairs must be made by lock personnel.
“With record fuel prices and capacity constraints, this couldn’t come at a worse time for our intermodal transportation system,” said Paul Rohde, vice president of Midwest Waterways Council Inc. in St. Louis. “Barge rates set the transportation rates for the other two modes, and the loss of barge traffic impacts cost and availability for crucial commodities that keep our economy moving.”
“It’s difficult to project at this time what the total cost of this devastation will be,” Rohde said in a Corps press release, noting that losses of more than $1 million per day are projected for the towing industry due to the operational costs of barges and boats that are unable to move through the system.
“One tow of 15 barges, unable to reach its destination, requires 1,050 (semi) trucks to carry the same amount of coal,” he said. “For petrochemicals or other liquids, an astonishing 2,160 trucks would be needed to do the job that 15 barges can do, more safely, less expensive, and off our roads. Take that away, and the economic, safety, environmental and other impacts are phenomenal.”
A portion of the Ohio River between Mount Vernon, Ind., and Old Shawneetown, Ill., was also closed temporarily last week due to shoaling caused by an influx of silt and debris carried by the swollen Wabash River, which feeds the Ohio. The closure lasted just 15 hours, with the river opening again to some 24 waiting barges on Tuesday evening, albeit with several restrictions imposed to keep vessels from running aground.