Storms start to move out of Minnesota, continue for western Wisconsin

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People who do business on the river expect some springtime flooding and may even plan on delays. But the president of a Saint Paul barge servicing company expected that this year's floods had passed. 

Lee Nelson of Upper River Services said high water closed the area's river terminals once already in late April and early May, a month before heavy rains caused a new round of flooding.

Nelson said there are problems with closing the river now. "One, it's a little bit late in the year, two, in some instances because the weather systems are still coming in, there's no crest forecasted yet. It's too far out to forecast a crest. So it's going to be more prolonged," Nelson said. 

The Army Corps of Engineers hopes to reopen the river to shipping within two weeks. Nelson estimated lost revenue in the region could amount to 200-thousand dollars a day.

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William Wilcoxen

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Flooding on the Mississippi River is prompting the Army Corps of Engineers to close a nearly two-hundred mile section of the river to barge traffic. The Corps plans to close several locks and dams in Illinois and Missouri beginning Thursday.

Flooding in Ill. and Mo. cause delays up and down the Mississippi

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