Mississippi flood evacuees spend days in shelter

In the area of Vicksburg, Mississippi’s hardest-hit by river flooding, evacuees passed time in shelters yesterday by reading books, praying or smoking cigarettes as officials warily watched waters inch towards the top of a nearby levee that protects thousands of acres of farmland. Cargo was slowly moving along the bloated Mississippi River after a costly daylong standstill.

Barge traffic on the river had resumed after the Coast Guard closed a 15-mile stretch at Natchez for much of yesterday, blocking vessels heading towards the Gulf of Mexico and others trying to return north after dropping off their freight.

Such interruptions could cost the US economy hundreds of millions of dollars for each day the barges are idled, as the toll from the weeks of flooding from Arkansas to Louisiana continues to mount.

Barges that haul coal, timber, iron, steel and more than half of America’s grain exports were allowed to pass at the slowest possible speed because their wakes could increase the strain on levees designed to hold back the river, officials said.

The closure at Natchez was the third in a series of recent moves designed to protect homes and businesses behind levees and floodwalls along the river.

Over the weekend, the Army Corps opened the Morganza Spillway, choosing to flood rural areas with fewer homes to protect Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Another spillway near New Orleans was opened earlier, but it did not threaten homes.

Vicksburg northeast to Yazoo City, along the Yazoo River, connects with the main Mississippi River levee. US Army Corps of Engineers officials had predicted that at least a foot of water could pour over the top, flooding tens of thousands of acres of farmland in the Delta.

The corps brought in new gauges and did another analysis and now believe the levee will only be overtopped by inches, if at all.

If the levee overtops, it likely will be when the gauges at Vicksburg reach 57.2 or 57.3 feet. The Mississippi River is projected to crest today at 57.5 feet, more than a foot above the 1927 record.