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Businesses can expect shipping delays for weeks to come as flooding -- and more wet weather -- hinder rail, truck and barge operations in the Midwest.
Uncle Sam is riding to the rescue with an initial $2.65-billion emergency aid package for flood disaster relief and loans. Additional funding to help flood victims is likely, with overall damages to infrastructure, homes, farms and other businesses likely to top the $20-billion cost for the last major flood in the region in 1993. Cleanup, repairs and rebuilding of bridges, roads, loading facilities, etc., will take years.
Rail tracks through Illinois, the nation's largest rail hub, will be of limited use well into next month because of damaged bridges, softened railroad beds and other infrastructure problems. Some trains are getting through -- albeit at very slow speeds -- while others are being held up until further notice.
On the Mississippi River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has pulled equipment from more than 240 miles of river locks to protect it from floodwaters, forcing many barges to a standstill. Ron Fournier, spokesman for the Corps' Rock Island, Ill., district, says it'll probably be two or three weeks before the locks can be reopened. Shippers can expect a very tight fleet of barges and a hike in rates once barge service resumes.
Trucks serving rail and barge loading and unloading zones will also be affected, of course. Moreover, truckers will face weight restrictions and trip delays on certain secondary roadways after waters covering them recede.
Look for more crop losses on top of those from flooded unplanted farmland. Fields of corn that were sowed late because of earlier heavy rains face rotting as they sit in mud and standing water. Plus the July heat will thwart pollination at a vulnerable growth stage. Net: Corn will fall 2 billion bushels short of normal yearly use; soybeans, 400 million.
Crop losses will only fuel higher food prices as the market watches expected 2009 commodity supplies grow scarcer: Earlier estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of a 5% to 6% rise in groceries this year will be revised up a point or so.
Meanwhile, more rain appears to be on the way. The National Weather Service is calling for another wet month ahead for the North Central states and Midwest.
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