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u.s. news Diahuebs 6 OctOber 2022
Barges grounded by low water halt Mississippi River traffic

The unusually low water passengers on board, said R. according to the National
level in the lower Mis- Thomas Berner, a Penn State Weather Service.
sissippi River is causing professor emeritus of jour-
barges to get stuck in mud nalism and American studies, The timing is bad because
and sand, resulting in de- and one of the passengers. barges are busy carrying re-
lays for shippers, recre- cently harvested corn and
ational boaters and even The Viking ship was origi- soybeans up and down the
passengers on a cruise nally supposed to launch river.
line. from New Orleans on Satur-
day, but the water there was Lucy Fletcher of the agricul-
Lack of rainfall in recent so low that the launch was tural retailer AGRIServices
weeks has left the Mississip- moved to Baton Rouge, Lou- of Brunswick, who serves on
pi River approaching record isiana, Berner said. the board for the St. Louis-
low levels in some areas from based trade association In-
Missouri south through Lou- By Tuesday, the ship was land Rivers, Ports & Termi-
isiana. The U.S. Coast Guard halted near Vicksburg, Mis- nals, said navigation woes on
said at least eight “ground- sissippi, due to the backup the Mississippi, Missouri and
ings” of barges have been re- caused by the grounding. It other major rivers have some
ported in the past week, de- wasn’t near a dock so pas- shippers looking at other
spite low-water restrictions sengers couldn’t leave. The means of transportation.
on barge loads. ship’s crew kept people en-
tertained as much as possible “Can they divert to rail?”
One of the groundings hap- with music, games and other Fletcher asked. “Well, there’s
pened Friday between Loui- activities. not an abundance of rail avail-
siana and Mississippi, near ability. And usually people are
Lake Providence, Mississippi. “Some of us are taking naps,” booking their transportation
It halted river traffic in both Berner joked. for fall early in the season. So
directions for days “to clear if they haven’t booked that of barges each tow can move. between Kentucky and Mis-
the grounded barges from The stuck barges were freed freight already, you’re going souri.
the channel and to deepen midday Tuesday. Berner to see people in dire straits.” Last week, Corps officials in
the channel via dredging to said the cruise ship restarted Louisiana said the low river The forecast for much of the
prevent future groundings,” Tuesday night. It’s due to ar- Fletcher said that with the level was allowing salt wa- Mississippi River basin calls
U.S. Army Corps of Engi- rive in St. Paul, Minnesota, supply chain still snagged fol- ter from the Gulf of Mexico for continued dry weather in
neers spokesperson Sabrina on Oct. 15 . lowing the COVID-19 pan- to creep up into the Mis- the near future. Fletcher is
Dalton said in an email. demic, trucks also are largely sissippi. They planned an hopeful the winter will bring
Nearly all of the Mississippi booked and unavailable. underground levee aimed some relief.
As a result, dozens of tows River basin, from Minnesota at keeping salt water out of
and barges were lined up in through Louisiana, has seen To keep river traffic flow- water treatment plants. The “We need a good year for lots
both directions, waiting to below-normal rainfall since ing, the Corps of Engineers shallow water also forced the of snow melt,” she said. “The
get by. The stoppage also late August. The basin from has been dredging the Mis- mid-September closure of whole system’s just going to
brought a halt to a Viking St. Louis south has been sissippi at several spots and a ferry that carries vehicles need some water.”
cruise ship with about 350 largely dry for three months, placed limits on the number across the Mississippi River

Relatives plead for tips on kidnapped family, including baby

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) north of Merced. pany office had only opened
— Relatives of a fam- about a week earlier.
ily kidnapped at gunpoint Relatives of the victims asked
from their trucking busi- anyone who owns a conve- The sheriff said detectives be-
ness in central California nience store or gas station in lieve the kidnapper destroyed
pleaded for help Wednes- the area to check their sur- unspecified evidence in an at-
day in the search for an veillance cameras for images tempt to cover his tracks.
8-month-old girl, her of the suspect or the family.
mother, father and uncle. They said they were worried The sheriff’s office said
the baby wasn’t being fed be- that firefighters on Monday
Authorities at a news con- cause the family didn’t have found a pickup truck belong-
ference Wednesday showed any baby food with them at ing to Amandeep Singh that
surveillance video of a man the time of the kidnapping. was on fire. Merced Police
kidnapping the baby, Aroohi Department officers went
Dheri; the child’s mother, Relatives of Jesus Salgado, to Amandeep Singh’s home,
Jasleen Kaur, 27; father Jas- 48, contacted authorities re- where a family member tried
deep Singh, 36; and uncle porting that he had admitted to reach him and the couple.
Amandeep Singh, 39 from to them he was involved with When they were not able
their Merced business on the kidnapping of the family, to reach their family mem-
Monday. Warnke told KFSN-TV on bers, they called the Merced
Tuesday. Salgado tried to take County Sheriff’s office to re-
Family members said nothing his own life before police ar- port them missing, the office
was stolen from the trucking rived at a home in Atwater, said.
company but that their rela- and he has since been hospi-
tives were all wearing jewelry. talized, he said. The sheriff’s office said the
Merced County Sheriff Vern FBI, the California Depart-
Warnke said that after the Warnke said the kidnapper ment of Justice, and other lo-
kidnapping, an ATM card be- made no ransom demands. cal law enforcement agencies
longing to one of the victims are helping with the investi-
was used in Atwater, a city Family members told KXTV- gation. people about 125 miles (200 Francisco in the San Joaquin
about 9 miles (14 kilometers) TV that the trucking com- Merced is a city of 86,000 kilometers) southeast of San Valley.