What we don’t know about the barges passing Natchez daily may be exactly what hurts us, Emergency Management Director George Souderes said.

Last week, two tugboats pushing barges hit the Mississippi River Bridge in two days. In both cases, several barges disconnected from the rest and sank into the river.

Fortunately, they carried harmless cargo — grain and limestone rock.

But that’s not always the case, Souderes said.

Barges often carry dangerous materials up and down the river.

In 1961, a barge carrying four large tanks of chlorine gas sank, turning the town upside down.

The tanks had to be retrieved, but if they leaked, a cloud of deadly chlorine could be released.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the operation, and a swarm of other responders from the navy, coast guard, American Red Cross and others flooded into the Miss-Lou.

Gas masks were handed out, and a plan was developed to evacuate residents if any of the gas escaped.

After a meticulous process involving divers and extreme precautions, the tanks were removed without any problems.

Every time a barge sinks, emergency officials treat it as if it contained hazardous material.

But Natchez has no standing evacuation plan, Souderes said.

“To my knowledge, there is no written evacuation plan for our area,” Souderes said. “We’ve always been told (by state and federal governments) we were a host county and that people will be coming to us to be sheltered.”

That idea goes back to the Cold War, when relocation was a big priority for the country, he said.

But nuclear war is less on Souderes’ mind than the dangerous potential barges.

“(The lack of an evacuation plan) does concern me,” Souderes said. “The main thing we have discussed is we’re told to be in-place shelter.”

That means staying put and, among other things, taping up doors and cracks to keep out potentially harmful gasses or, in some cases, radiation.

But even without a prepared plan, Souderes said, national, state and local officials would probably respond the same way they did decades ago.

“I am positive that if something of that magnitude again happened in our area, the corps of engineers, U.S. Coast Guard and the government would take a strong lead role again,” he said.

If, unlike last time, a hazardous material were leaking, the local emergency officials would take charge immediately.

Along with the lack of a prepared evacuation plan, lack of information worries Souderes.

“The main thing that concerns me is what’s going up and down that river,” he said.

Souderes and local officials don’t know what’s in every barge every day, he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard requires that captains carrying dangerous substances check in with the coast guard at regular points along the river.

“There’s points throughout the river they have to stop and check in and let them know they’re going through that area,” Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Third Class Tom Atkenson said. “It gives us an idea of where vessels carrying dangerous cargo can be found.”