Wild weather and persistent high water on the inland rivers have given workboat operators operational headaches — and a few emergency situations — for much of 2015.
This spring it was the occasional tow breaking apart or bulk carrier losing its way. Lately the Mississippi River has been downright treacherous, with currents speeding up and debris rafting downstream.
The 61’x24’, 1,000-hp towboat Charlie Boy sank in the Mississippi River at mile marker 173 south of St. Louis on June 19, and took one of her crew down with her.
Two crewmembers were rescued by another towboat, and the search by Coast Guard and local agencies continued for the third crewman on the river between mile 148 and 109. Fast current and lots of debris in the river hampered the search, and may have contributed to the collision, St. Louis Fire Department Chief Dennis Jenkerson told St. Louis television station KSDK.
On Tuesday night a Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter played its floodlight over the Mississippi at New Orleans, after witnesses reported a man went into the river just yards from the French Quarter’s Riverwalk tourist promenade. He never came out, and firefighters recovered a body late Wednesday night.
A Coast Guard cutter, small boats, and city fire and police units had scoured 230 square miles along the river for 24 hours.
The river stage at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Carrollton gauge station in New Orleans was around 15’6”, down slightly from an unusual summer crest of 15.7’ the week before. That same day the Coast Guard 8th District issued yet another of its high water warnings: “The stronger than normal currents can create rips and eddies in places where they might not have been before, which can pull a boat or a person into a dangerous situation very quickly.”
It can happen to professionals too. Witnesses reported that Charlie Boy appeared to be pulled toward the barge by strong current, almost rolling under the bigger vessel.
Those rains that have pummeled the watershed of the world’s third-mightiest stream are reminding all once again of what an elemental force it is.
