Port dredging along Mississippi River - KNOE 8 News; KNOE-TV; KNOE.com |

TALLULAH, La. (KNOE 8 News) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge ports on the Mississippi River to allow ships to dock.

Thirteen months ago there were record flood levels at the Madison Parish Port just north of Tallulah, Louisiana. Today, ships can barely dock at the port due to the almost record low water level.

Agriculture in the area might be doing well, but with no way to ship the produce, farmers might be left with fields of dying crops.

"When you have low water conditions such as we have now, barges and tugs can not move the commodities from the port," says Kavanaugh Breazeale of the Corps of Engineers.

Dredge vessels remove silt build up from river beds and spray it in other areas. The ship dredging the Madison Parish port is so large it can hardly fit in the narrow channel.

"This ship is not made for ports, it is made for dredging the Mississippi River," says Breazeale, "but due to the conditions, we are trying to work as hard as we can to help port and the river in our area of operation."

Because there is only one dredging vessel in the Ark-La-Miss area, the Corps of Engineers is lending a hand to the ports, but resources used for port dredging are limited.

"We have been allocated some extra funds from congress to try to dredge some of these ports. We'll go as long as we can," says Breazeale.