(Radio Iowa) — The U.S. Coast Guard closed the Missouri River to boat and barge traffic on Friday from north of Sioux City all the way to St. Louis and the closure is hurting some businesses that rely upon the river. Steve Engemann is president of Missouri River Towing, a company that provides towing services on that 750-mile stretch of the river. “We have fertilizer waiting to go north and grain waiting to go south,” he says, “about 15 modes of freight sitting there in Hermann.” Hermann, Missouri, sits just south of the Missouri River.

Engemann hopes commercial traffic can resume on the river next week. Brian Smith of the Iowa Department of Natural Resource says a lot of recreational boaters are impacted, too. “A lot of folks that’s kind of their nearly every weekend habit is to go out and float or water ski or boat or fish on the Missouri River,” he says. National Weather Service data indicates the MISSISSIPPI River is receding at all locations along Iowa’s eastern border.