Old Man River is drying up ............

(Reuters) - The drought-drained Mississippi River will rise slightly later this week between St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois, but later continue its decline toward historic lows, according to a National Weather Service forecast.

Low water, due to the worst U.S. drought since 1956, has already impeded the flow of billions of dollars worth of grain, coal, fertilizer and other commodities between the central United States and shipping terminals at the Gulf of Mexico.

A further drop in river levels could halt commercial shipping traffic entirely by this weekend, the American Waterways Operators and the Waterways Council Inc said in a statement on Wednesday.

Last week, the council said the river along the Cairo-St. Louis stretch would be too low for navigation by January 7 but on Wednesday it said shipping may come to a halt between January 5 and 15.

A shutdown could affect more than 8,000 jobs, cost $54 million in wages and benefits, and halt the movement of 7.2 million tons of commodities valued at $2.8 billion, the two industry groups said.

Isaac storm surge could put $36 billion worth of homes at risk

By Ben Berkowitz  Reuters) - The latest track of Tropical Storm Isaac puts more than $36 billion in Gulf Coast residential property at risk of flooding from storm surges, with southeastern Louisiana at greatest peril of huge losses, residential data analysis company CoreLogic said on Sunday.

Isaac bore down on the Florida Keys Sunday afternoon, with the latest National Hurricane Center forecasts suggesting a Mississippi landfall Wednesday morning as a Category 2 hurricane.

Some of the computer models used by meteorologists put Isaac on a more westerly track, though, bringing it directly into or just west of New Orleans.

Either way, CoreLogic said conditions were increasingly unfavorable along the Gulf Coast for storm surge, which is the water that a hurricane pushes forward as it moves toward land.

The firm estimated nearly 223,000 New Orleans-area properties worth $30.44 billion were vulnerable to flood damage from a Category 2 hurricane hitting the region. Across the broader Gulf Coast, more than 269,000 properties worth around $36 billion were endangered.