NATCHEZ &045; The Mississippi River isn’t supposed to be flanked by sandy beaches.

But dry weather up north and down south has left the river 6 feet below its normal stage.

But the 9.9 gauge reading is still far from the worst.

In 1988 the gauge hit 3.7. The lowest on record is minus 2.7 in 1830.

This time last year the level was 17.50. The historic normal is 15.90.

&uot;It’s not very often that it’s this low,&uot; said Wayland Hill, a civil engineering technician with the Vicksburg Army Corps. &uot;It’s pretty rare.&uot;

August, September and October are the typically dry months, he said.

By Nov. 15, rainy season should start driving the level back up.

But Isle of Capri Casino General Manager Jose Oakley said he’s hoping the water will rise sooner than November.

&uot;It’s more of a strain on customers to walk down the long, long hill,&uot; Oakley said. &uot;And on the operational side, to add to the ramp.&uot;

The concrete boat ramp that leads to the casino goes far under water, but the boat workers have already added wood to the entry ramp for safety.

It’s a major change for the casino that was hugging the coastline eight months ago to escape rising waters and stay open.

The navigation unit at the Vicksburg Corps branch is also working to accommodate the shrinking river.

&uot;Nothing right now is impeding navigation,&uot; Assistant Chief Cody Eckhardt said. &uot;But we are dredging more than we would during high water.&uot;

The navigation unit is running weekly channel patrols up and down the river to check water depths and reset buoys, he said.

When water in the navigation channel is lower than it should be, engineers use a dustpan-like dredge to lower the floor of the river.

The dredging machine uses water jets to stir up sand on the bottom of the river and sucks it up. The sand is deposited in an area of the river that won’t affect travel.

The Corps is required to maintain a 9-foot-deep, 300-foot-wide channel on the river.

&uot;It never gets too low that we have to shut down navigation,&uot; Eckhardt said.

Extremely low levels can mean restrictions for tows or delays while a dredge lowers the floor.

Flood stage in Natchez is 48. On Feb. 1 the level was 51.1.