2 Mississippi River locks reopen after flooding

updated 5:30 p.m. ET July 5, 2008

ST. LOUIS - The Army Corps of Engineers said Saturday that two navigational locks along the Mississippi River have reopened after being closed because of flooding that caused billions in damage along the Mississippi and tributaries.

Jennifer Godfrey of the corps' emergency operations center in St. Louis said locks in Clarksville and Winfield have reopened. All locks on the Mississippi have now been reopened. The Kaskaskia Lock on the Kaskaskia River near Chester, Ill., was still closed Saturday. It's not clear when it will reopen.

Godfrey said commercial traffic at the St. Louis port is limited to the daytime.

Flooding on the Mississippi forced the corps to close the locks last month.

The locks use huge electric motors to open and close gates and valves. They raise and lower barges as they make their way up and down the river. The corps removes the motors during floods to protect them.

Flooding that hit the Mississippi basin in the past month broke through levees and inundated towns and cities from Illinois south. Damage from the floods has been put in the billions.

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