Wow the Midwest drought has caused the mighty Mississippi to become so low

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Photos show the Mississippi River is so low that it's grounding barges, disrupting the supply chain, and revealing a 19th-century shipwreck

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The US Army Corps of Engineers is dredging the Mississippi River and racing to keep the sea from contaminating drinking water

The Mississippi River's waters have plunged to new lows, grounding cargo barges on the shallow riverbed and allowing seawater to creep up through Louisiana. That's sent the US Army Corps of Engineers into a frenzy of damage control.

At the mouth of the river, the agency is building an underwater levee to stop the creep of seawater from the Gulf of Mexico, which threatens to incapacitate water-treatment plants in southern Louisiana.

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You usually need a boat to get to this Missouri landmark. Now it’s dry enough to walk

Nestled in the middle of the Mississippi River is a 400-million-year-old rock formation that’s typically only reachable by boat, according to Missouri officials.

But as water levels drop during the drought, a path to this state landmark has been exposed.

Now lots of people are journeying to the formation by foot.

Tower Rock Natural Area includes 32 acres of trees, mostly on the Missouri bank of the river, and a “vertical geologic formation known as ‘Tower Rock’ in the river channel.”

While Tower Rock can usually only be accessed by a boat, the “large limestone outcrop” has been accessible by foot before, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. This happens when the Mississippi River hits “extremely low” water levels.

Visitors can typically reach it by foot if the water level is below 1.5 feet at the Mississippi

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This could impact those living in the Great Lakes area  :

Before-and-after photos show how the Mississippi River has dropped dramatically, choking a crucial shipping corridor

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Photos show what Tower Rock, a limestone formation in the middle of the Mississippi River, looks like before and after severe drought dropped water levels