ST. LOUIS (AP) - A 256-mile stretch of Missouri River is open to boats and barges for the first time since early June.
The Coast Guard said Thursday the river has been reopened to all vessel traffic from mile marker zero at St. Louis to mile marker 256 at Brunswick, about 80 miles east of Kansas City.
The swollen river remains closed from Brunswick upstream to mile marker 811, near Gavin's Point Dam in Yankton, S.D.
Officials had put the river off-limits for recreational boating in Missouri on June 3. Commercial vessels had ceased operations earlier, as historic releases of water from upstream storage reservoirs pushed the Missouri out of its banks.
The Coast Guard says high water conditions still on the reopened section, and boaters should check that ramps are open.