If the forecast holds, the great winter flood of 2016 will go down as merely a scare for most of us.

The brief flirtatious forecast that had river levels getting close to the 2011 record-setting flood had many saying to themselves, “Not again!”

But with river levels dropping the immediate sense of worry is turned back into simply a watchful concern.

One thing we wish officials would regulate more carefully in times of flood is the barge traffic on the river.

Yes, we understand it’s a vital link to commerce, and we understand the artery links America’s heartland to the world.

But we also know that river barge accidents always seem to increase during times when the river is flooded and water volumes at their peak.

It doesn’t take a genius to see the rapid water boiling past Natchez and realize, the river turns a bit more treacherous when flood-swollen.

Northbound barges crawl along, fighting the powerful currents surging toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Coming the other direction, southbound tows struggle to keep control with the increased river speed.

This week already that’s led to two accidents in which barges have struck bridges that span the Mississippi River to our north.

We hope the U.S. Coast Guard would be quicker to curtail river traffic during times of flooding. Aside from the direct threat to bridges and human lives, the traffic must also increase the wear and tear on levees with the wakes barges create.