ALMA, Wis. – The rising Mississippi River forced the closing of the lock at Alma, halting commercial traffic. Navigation had become unsafe, said the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps’ operates 17 dams. each with a lock and each a chokepoint to shipping on the Upper Mississippi. The locks lift and drop barges through 169 feet of elevation over historic rapids and shallows between Minneapolis and Muscatine, Iowa.. The Corps said the Alma lock will be reopened – flood levels permitting – only when the river crests and flood levels recede. This, said the Corps, likely will be least a week. Meanwhile next upriver lock, at Dam Number 3 near Red Wing, was expected to be closed Wednesday.
Flood domino
Four days ago the Corps closed opened its Upper St. Anthony Falls lock at Dam 1 in Minneapolis to relieve flood flooding farther north. Opening the Minneapolis lock released torrents of water downriver. This a added to massive snow runoffs from the Minnesota, St. Croix and Chippewa rivers in the pools behind the Red Wing and Alma dams.
Crest expectations
The National Weather Service predicts the river will crest at:
> Lake City: On Saturday afternoon at 2-1/2 feet over flood stage.
> Wabasha: Late Saturday night at almost four feet over flood stage.
> Winona: Late Monday night at five feet above flood stage.
Prolonged problem?
Additional precipitation could significantly affect crest predictions. The water levels are expected to remain a couple of feet below the crests from 2001, when the Mississippi River rose to the second-highest levels ever recorded. The worst spring flood on record occurred in 1965.