Parts of the lower Mississippi River reached record lows, as an ongoing drought in the area depletes the waterways feeding the Mississippi. Farmers and other industries are also facing a barge bottleneck as they try to get their goods down the river, but are forced to wait due to the low water levels and restrictions put in place by the U.S. Coast Guard amid the drought. The region remains in severe or exceptional drought, and incoming rain is not likely to make the Mississippi River rise in any significant way. This post was produced by Casey Kuhn, Julia Griffin and Yasmeen Alamiri. Video is from Associated Press, photos are from Getty Images. Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6 Follow us: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/newshour Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe: PBS NewsHour podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts Newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe