In the middle of the shrunken Mississippi, a barge drags a giant metal-edged suction head along the riverbed to remove sediment from shipping lanes.
The crew of the dustpan dredge Hurley has been working around-the-clock for months to deepen the channels so boats and barges can pass through.
From the Great Lakes in the north to Louisiana in the south, the majestic Mississippi is a shadow of its former self. The dredge is currently digging at the same spot near Memphis, Tennessee for the third time. The dredge scrapes and sucks up mud from the river bottom and spews it onto the bank.But the job hits closer to home.
On the river in Osceola, Arkansas, Jeff Worsham manages an agricultural port. But two of its three docks are unusable due to the low water. To ensure operations at all three docks next year, Worsham says,"we have made plans to do some dredging next year."Last year, a record that had stood since 1988 was broken. It was broken again this September, and yet again in October.
"Over the past 10 to 15 years, we've seen extreme weather on both spectrums," she told AFP aboard the Hurley."We've seen more historic floods, and we've seen more historic droughts."
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