2 barges break free of tow, hit lock and dam near Morrilton
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008
Two barges that broke free of a 12-barge tow on the Arkansas River early Friday ended up against the upriver side of a lock and dam near Morrilton, authorities said.
No one was hurt in the accident, which occurred between 3 a.m. and 4 a. m., but the Arthur V. Ormond Lock and Dam No. 9 will remain closed until the barges are recovered and the lock and dam is inspected, said P. J. Spaul, a spokesman for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in Little Rock, which operates locks and dams on the river.
One barge was carrying 1, 400 tons of urea, a chemical product often used in fertilizer. Though the urea wasn’t leaking, as a precaution, the Corps dispatched an environmental specialist to the scene and notified the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Spaul said. The second barge, containing 1, 400 tons of molasses, was on its side against the dam.
The Environmental Quality Department is monitoring the situation, said Doug Szenher, a department spokesman.
“Our information is that neither one of [the barges ] are leaking anything at this point,” he said Friday afternoon. “The barge operator is going to tow the barge with the urea upriver, get it moored and work on freeing the molasses barge. It has overturned, but it’s not leaking.” The barge carrying the urea, in fact, was recovered from the dam and has resumed its journey, Spaul said Friday evening.
The towboat City of Cleveland, towing 12 barges upriver, had just cleared the lock near Morrilton when the accident occurred in thick fog, Spaul said. Six barges broke free, but the tow captain was able to recover four barges. The other two lodged against the dam, he said. The dam gates, protected by concrete piers, appeared undamaged and continued to operate, Spaul said.
“The dam is sound and operating normally,” he said. “The dam is not at any risk.” The towboat is owned by Jan Tran Inc. of Rosedale, Miss. A company executive who could discuss the incident, John Janus, vice president and operations manager for Jan Tran, was unavailable for comment Friday afternoon, according to an employee who answered the telephone at the company’s Rosedale office.
At the time of the accident, river flows reached 136, 000 feet per second, almost double the river’s normal flow. Small craft have been warned to stay off the river, but it’s not unusual for commercial traffic, such as the City of Cleveland, to operate in high river flows, Spaul said.
The U. S. Coast Guard also was on the scene. It will investigate the accident to determine its cause, Spaul said.
Officials from the Corps, Jan Tran and the Coast Guard are putting together a recovery plan, he said. Spaul didn’t know how long the recovery operation would take. On Friday, only one towboat was waiting to pass through the lock, he said.
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