JACKSON, Miss. -- The Mississippi River is expected to crest Thursday at Vicksburg at 57.1 feet, which is lower than the original prediction of 57.5 feet, but still more than a foot above the 1927 record.The river level was at 57 feet in Vicksburg on Wednesday. The crest was also lowered in Natchez from 63 feet to 62.5, which the river is predicted to reach on Saturday.Gov. Haley Barbour said after the crest, it could be days before the water starts going down.The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said more than 4,800 people are displaced in Mississippi due to flooding, with more than 2,000 of them in Vicksburg and surrounding areas in Warren County.Cargo is slowly moving along the bloated Mississippi River after a costly, daylong standstill, while officials keep an eye on the lower Delta, where thousands of acres of farmland could be swamped by water that's inching closer to the top of a backwater levee.The Coast Guard on Tuesday reopened the Mississippi River in Natchez, but said only one tow vessel at a time would be allowed to pass through the 15-mile area.Barges that haul coal, timber, iron, steel and more than half of America's grain exports were allowed to pass, but at the slowest possible speed. Such interruptions could cost the U.S. economy hundreds of millions of dollars for each day the barges are idled, as the toll from the weeks of flooding from Arkansas to Louisiana continues to mount.Copyright 2011 by WAPT.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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