UPDATE: TVA says it will open dams to help navigation on Mississippi River
MEMPHIS, Tenn.– Beached boats are sitting in the mud of the mighty Mississippi in Memphis, and it’s a pretty wild sight to see.
NOAA forecasts that the Mississippi River in Memphis is expected to reach -10.8 feet by November 1, which would surpass Monday’s record low.
To compare how low the water is now, let’s take a look at how a boats on the river at Mud Island looked on Tuesday afternoon versus October 1.
It’s a mess Joe Weiss, General Manager of the Mud Island Marina, now deals with as the Mississippi River level plummets.
He’s not the only one.
A few miles south at Riverside Park Marina, the damage is so bad it almost looks like a storm came through. The low levels are causing concern for those up and down the river that’s crucial to the economy.
Those with boats now sitting in the sand and mud are wondering what they can do.
“A lot of them ask if it’s going to bend their shafts, how do I get it out? Wait for water,” Weiss said.
There’s also concern about if the boat will continue to stick to the mud when the water comes.
“It’s gonna sink. We have a couple things we try to do, we have some lifts and some wenches we’ll try to pull it out and help it up but ultimately it has to come off the bottom,” Weiss said.
Mario Howard, who watches the river from his back porch every day, is still in disbelief by what he’s seeing. Now, just like so many others, he hopes for rain in northern states to hopefully make an impact down here.
“Hopefully, some snow to start melting, something to happen to get that river back to where it needs to be at,” Howard said.
A silver lining is they’ve been able to clean up all the trash they find at the bottom of the river.
