High Traffic Forces USCG to Shut Section of Missouri River

The U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday it was closing a 147 mile-long section of the Missouri River to marine traffic due to high water levels after recent heavy rains.

The Coast Guard Eighth District office at St. Louis, Miss., said in a statement that recreational and commercial traffic was being restricted between mile 146 and 293 on the river, from central Missouri west to near Kansas City.

The closure comes two weeks after the Coast Guard reopened a 500-mile stretch of the upper Mississippi River north of St. Louis that had been closed for a month by flooding and high water.