The Nation - News from June 20, 1988

Barges got moving in new channels cut in the shrinking Ohio and Mississippi rivers, but rain on the upper Mississippi Valley did little to ease the drought that has withered wheat and seedling Christmas trees alike. A temporary halt in barge traffic occurred on the Ohio after 10 barges ran aground. But the river was later reopened to controlled traffic, authorities said. Meanwhile, showers and thunderstorms moved across sections of Minnesota and Wisconsin, pouring 1.72 inches of rain in 24 hours on Duluth, Minn. However, Minnesota’s driest farms are on the opposite side of the state, which got only spotty rain. Even if hard rain had fallen in the farming regions, much of it would have rolled off because the ground is too dry, meteorologist Rainer Dombrowsky said.