Mississippi River Should Be Open To Traffic Next Week, Strain

By Don Molino

Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network

Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Mike Strain says there are a lot of barges and ships grounded in the Mississippi River in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.

“We have to get the barges floated and the ships back into the channel and get the channel cleared,” said Strain.

“We are some six days out from re-opening the mouth of the (Mississippi) River. We have to remove the debris and get the power lines pulled out of the river.

“We hope the upper river, from basically the Port of (South) Louisiana to Baton Rouge and further north, to have that section of the river open and then start moving cargo again.

“There are a lot of ships in the river that are waiting to be loaded. But we’re also working to get electricity to our refineries and grain elevators so we can get those repaired.

“Nine of Loisiana’’s major refineries, which process over two million barrels of oil a day—or 13% of the US total—were offline in the wake of Ida.”