The so-called mega-study launched in 2023 was intended to last five years and address a wide range of issues key to shipping, floods and drinking water, among many others.

A tow boat pushes barges downstream through Lake Pepin on October 31, 2022, on the Mississippi River near Lake City, Minn. About 60% of the Midwest and northern Great Plain states are in a drought.

The Army Corps of Engineers says the crest will last between two to three days and then begin to fall. The Mississippi River will be monitored twice a week until the water level drops below 11 feet.

Madeline Heim is a Report for America corps reporter who writes about environmental issues in the Mississippi River watershed and across Wisconsin. Contact her at 920-996-7266 or mheim@gannett.com.

WINFIELD, Missouri — In the story of America, the Mississippi River is a character unto itself, a rough-hewn founding father of the West: restless, implacable, more powerful than law or nature ...

The Great River Road offers a scenic way to see the dozens of towns and cities along the banks of the Mississippi River. This is what to know.