Low Mississippi River levels seriously hurting farmers and commerce

A much narrower Mississippi River has "industry on its knees," according to experts in the area.

Transcript

00:00 Well, let's turn our attention now to Mississippi.

00:02 The latest now on the water levels in the Mississippi River, as we've been telling you,

00:07 levels dropped to record lows.

00:09 Look at that drought.

00:10 Look at those dry conditions in the ground.

00:13 Amid a lengthy drought for a second year straight from Louisiana to Missouri, a dredging crew

00:18 has been working around the clock for months to deepen the channel so boats and barges

00:24 can pass through.

00:26 The dredges dread digging at the same spot near Memphis for the third time to keep commerce

00:32 moving up and down the river.

00:34 The drought has left the river more narrow and shallow, limiting shipping capabilities.

00:41 This isn't something any of us want to see.

00:43 It's got the industry on its knees.

00:45 We're just barely functioning right now.

00:49 And if it were to fall another foot or two, that would probably close the river.

00:54 For farmers who are dependent on the river to ship their products, this comes at a bad

00:59 time.

01:00 Early autumn is when they're working to harvest soybean and corn.

01:05 Now the acreage we have in wheat and soybeans and sometimes corn, it all gets shipped on

01:12 the river to the Gulf.

01:13 And of course, the economics of floating a ton of something versus hauling a ton of something

01:20 on a truck or a train even is unbelievable how much cheaper it is.

01:27 You got less carbon emissions, you burn less diesel fuel per ton on the river.

01:36 We'll have much more on the efforts to combat the low water levels of the Mississippi River

01:41 tomorrow night right here on AccuWeather Prime.

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