On Tuesday, Tropical Storm Bill made landfall along the central Texas Coast and weakened to a tropical depression as it made its way toward the middle Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
Both of these areas have already seen flooding and high river levels, according to the USDA. With much of the Illinois River above flood stage, barge traffic on the Illinois has been slowed by high water. Parts of the Illinois River were expected to receive heavy rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Bill, which will further disrupt barge traffic, according the USDA’s Grain Transportation Report.
On June 17, the river gauge for the Mississippi River at St. Louis was at 32' (two feet above flood stage). Since early June, the St. Louis gauge has been above 25', a level where the Coast Guard restricts barge tows over 600' to daylight only transit in St. Louis Harbor. With the additional rains from Bill, the river level is not expected to drop to 25' until June 27, when the daylight only restrictions could be lifted, the GTR said.
