Shutdown Mississippi hurts Midwest
A lock and dam on the Mississippi River is having a huge economic impact on small towns around the Midwest that rely on it for business. Maureen McCollum reports on how it's affecting a village in Wisconsin.
Canoers paddle through the Mississippi River-flooded town of Keithsburg, Ill. (Eugene Garcia/AFP/Getty Images)
More on Spending
TEXT OF STORY
Scott Jagow: With food prices where they are, what we did not need was a summer of flooding in the Midwest. But it looks like that's what we're gonna get. Early this morning, a lock and dam on the Mississippi River was closed to barge traffic. There are nine of these locks, and they'll all be closed eventually if water levels keep rising.
The economic toll of shutting down the Mississippi cannot be underestimated. Small towns all over the Midwest are already feeling squeezed by the flooding. Maureen McCollum reports from Wisconsin Public Radio.
Maureen McCollum: The southwestern Wisconsin town of Ontario is usually lush and green this time of year, its Kickapoo river a big tourist draw for canoers and kayakers. Now, everything appears mucky and brown.
Colin Winchell works at Drifty's Canoe Rentals:
Colin Winchell: You stand on this bridge and look down the water, you'll see canoes in the trees and canoes stuck in fences.
The Kickapoo's water is still so high and so dangerous that no one knows when the tourists will return. Ontario's village president puts preliminary damage at $2 million -- a lot for a town of 500. the damage to the county's agriculture -- hay, corn and soybeans -- is estimated at $5.5 million.
But it could be worse. About 60 miles to the east, the man-made Lake Delton was completely drained when flood waters breached its dam.
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle:
Jim Doyle: There are 22 lodges that are on that lake that had people booked all summer long to go there.
The flood's full economic impact throughout the midwest isn't clear, but FEMA will continue to assess the value of the damage over the next few days.
In La Crosse, Wisconsin, this is Maureen McCollum for Marketplace.
Comments
Comment | Refresh
Post a Comment: Please be civil, brief and relevant.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments are moderated. Marketplace reserves the right to edit any comments on this site and to read them on the air if they are extra-interesting. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting.
You must be 13 or over to submit information to American Public Media. The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party. For more information see Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.