Rain Slowing Down Port Business

Rain in Green Country is forcing a slow-down at the Port of Catoosa. News On 6 anchor Terry Hood reports the port is full of barges waiting for a trip down river.

"What you normally would see is probably about 20, 25 barges not 95 of them," said Port Director Bob Portiss.

Portiss says it's business as usual here with some barges being loaded and others still coming down the channel. The big difference, however, is the number of barges stuck in the port.

"It'd be kind of like if you owned a fleet of trucks and they just told you, 'Highway's shut down, can't move them'," said Portiss.

You can blame it on the rain. River levels in Green Country have been on the rise for weeks and the water eventually makes its way to the McClellan-Kerr Navigation System.

The Port of Catoosa sits at the head of the 445-mile waterway. Right now, the biggest problem for Bob Portiss is between Catoosa and Muskogee where the water typically flows at 5,000 cubic feet a second.

"That 50-mile stretch is flowing at 45,000 cubic feet per second right now. Tow boats can't operate when they get above 30,000 so they're just standing by at Muskogee waiting for these flows to subside," said Portiss.

While the national headlines are on the mighty Mississippi and the troubles along its bank, around the Port of Catoosa the hope is water-logged northeast Oklahoma catches a break so the barges can catch a ride out of town.

Despite the recent delay, Portiss says more than a million tons of cargo have been shipped through the Port so far this year. And the first five months of this year were the best for the same time period in the Port's 38-year history.