Flooding stalls river navigation

By D.E. Smoot
Phoenix Staff Writer

June 29, 2008 12:36 am

— Tourism isn’t the only eastern Oklahoma industry dampened this year and last by heavier than usual rainfall.
Transportation along the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System has slowed tremendously due to high water levels resulting from heavy rainfall.
The inland waterway, a 445-mile system of navigation pools connected by 18 locks that stretches from Catoosa to Rosedale, Miss., is touted as a “reliable, year-round waterway into the Southwest.”
That image has been tarnished the past couple of years, during which the region has experienced rainfall totals that far exceed annual norms. As a result, barge traffic has slowed at times to a crawl.
Port of Muskogee officials were unavailable this past week to discuss how abnormally high rainfall totals have impacted port activity or cargo transportation. But reports released earlier this year indicate the navigation industry could be losing up to $1.3 million a day due to high river levels.
Steve Taylor, vice president of Johnston Port Terminals, said the past two years have been the most challenging he has seen during the 31 years he has been at Port 33. Johnston Port Terminals operates a facility near Inola and another one at the Port of Muskogee.
“We’ve had more extreme events but never anything that has lasted this long,” Taylor said. “I would much rather deal with an extreme event that impacts business for a week than to have what we’ve had the past two years.”
Taylor said adverse river conditions recorded during 2007 began in April and continued through July. Port 33 and other shipping companies along the inland navigation system have been dealing with high water conditions since February.
“That (2007) was as bad a situation as we’ve had since the inception of the navigation system,” Taylor said. “This year it started out even earlier. As it stands now, it looks like we will go through the 15th of July before the river gets back to normal — and that’s if it doesn’t rain.”
Joe Sellers, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa, said Taylor and others who are hoping for a dryer spell may be in luck.
“The northwest flow (of air) we have seen is shifting and becoming more relaxed,” Sellers said. “As we see a more westerly flow, we should see fewer chances of the heavier storms we have been experiencing.”
Sellers said there will be chances of rain during the coming weeks, but longer range forecasts indicate that rainfall should not be as widespread as it has been. Even with diminishing chances of widespread flooding, Sellers said it is going to take some time to get rid of the water that has been accumulating in area lakes.
“It’s still going to be touch and go with the rivers, because there is so much water upstream,” Sellers said. “They are trying to minimize the release of that water, so it will take some time to lower those lake levels.”
Ed Engelke, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the agency is doing what it can to manage the water levels of the streams, rivers and lakes where all that rain has collected.
Engelke said flood control is the Corps’ primary purpose. At the same time, it tries to promote the beneficial uses of the waterways, such as navigation, hydroelectric generation, recreation and other project purposes for the which its system of dams and waterways are designed.
“Everything we do is in concert with the project purposes,” Engelke said. “If at all possible, we try not to add to the impact” of what’s already occurred.
Reach D.E. Smoot at 918-684-2903 or Click Here to Send Email