Barges Strike Illinois River Levee

Update: Marseilles Chief of Police and the head of Search and Rescue stated that prior to the barge incident, the city had already decided that the flooding would overtop the levees which in some places were experiencing partial failure and seepage which caused the city to plan for a partial evacuation. When the barge incident occurred, it was believed that the location of the barges above the dam would impede flow of the river through the dam and so the decision was made to accelerate the evacuation in the event that the already certain flooding would occur earlier than anticipated.

Barge shipping was halted Friday on parts of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers as flooding forced the closure of several locks until at least the middle of next week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Friday.

Eight Mississippi River locks, from Lock 15 at Rock Island, Illinois, to Lock 22 at Saverton, Missouri, were closed between Thursday evening and Friday morning as water in the rain-swollen river overtopped the dams, said Rob Germann, operations manager for the Army Corps' Mississippi River project, Rock Island district.

At least two more downriver locks on the Mississippi River were forecast to close by the weekend, halting commercial navigation on the major shipping waterway north of St. Louis.

On the Illinois River, Dresden Island, Starved Rock and T.J. O'Brien locks were closed due to high water while Marseilles lock and dam was closed after nine barges broke away from a tow in record floodwater late on Thursday and struck the dam.

The collision may have damaged part of the dam, but the extent of the damage cannot be assessed until the river recedes and all of the barges are removed, said Ron Fournier, public affairs officer for the Army Corps' Rock Island district.

Four dry cargo barges sunk after striking the dam, three remained afloat, including one carrying caustic soda, and two have been removed from the waterway as of Friday morning, he said.

Neither river was expected to crest before Sunday, and the locks will reopen as river levels drop. The latest river forecasts from the National Weather Service suggest the lock closures will persist until at least next Wednesday.

--Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Jim Marshall (C) Reuters 2013.

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Officials in Marseilles, Illinois have evacuated an estimated 1,500 residents after a possible levee break on the Illinois River.

Residents were evacuated late Thursday night after nine barges broke free of a tugboat and struck the levee. There is expected to be more flooding in the community of 5,100 residents when the river crests sometime Friday afternoon, but that is not expected to prompt any more evacuations.

Early Friday, officials reported the levy along River Street had been breached in several locations in the evacuation area. Water there is several feet deep and still rising; 100 homes are flooded.

There have been no reported injuries.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Rock Island says that efforts will be made Friday to remove the barges.