For the second time in two days, a barge hit the Mississippi River Bridge Thursday, causing minor damage, officials said.

Between 6:30 and 7 p.m., The Limestone Lady tugboat, pushing 25 barges downriver, collided with one of the bridge’s supports, Mississippi Department of Transportation Bridge Inspector Bud Vines said Friday.

Five of the barges, carrying limestone rock, dislodged.

Two barges sunk, forcing officials to close the river to traffic until they were located, said Janet Sullivan, assistant to the MDOT commissioner.

Vidalia Police received the call, Chief Billy Hammers said Friday.

“We just shut traffic down a few minutes,” Hammers said. “Once MDOT made sure there was no damage, we let them back through.”

Another barge collided with the same bridge support Wednesday morning. That collision, too, caused only minor damage, MDOT officials said at the time.

The pilot of the boat that hit the bridge Wednesday said the current caught his boat at a curve in the river upstream, and he couldn’t correct in time to navigate the bridge, officials said.

The barges Thursday were heavily laden, which can make them more challenging to control, Sullivan said.

“These are seasoned pilots,” she said Wednesday. “These guys have to know practically every bend in the river.

“I think when the river is up really high, they come around that bend, and the current or wind, something is catching them and throwing them off.”

A year ago this month, another barge collided with a bridge support. The river is at its highest in late winter and early spring.

River conditions may have contributed to the two most recent collisions, MDOT Executive Director Larry L. “Butch” Brown said Friday.

“When they’re fully loaded, they’re very low in the water,” Brown said. “Currents in the Mississippi River are very rapidly moving, heavy currents.”

When the currents hit at a curve upstream, Brown said, it can make steering large barges difficult.

“When they come around that bend, if they don’t get the control just right when they make that turn, it can be very difficult to maneuver with in that short stretch of water between the bend and the bridge.”

Although none of the barges that dislodged were carrying hazardous materials, Brown said it was important to cover all the bases.

“You have to take every one of them seriously,” Brown said. “We have to treat every one of these incidents as if it were a major hazardous condition.”

Part of the caution for Brown and Adams County Civil Defense Director George Souderes harkens back to the early 1960s, when several barges carrying chlorine sank.

“The barges sunk in the Mississippi River 12 miles downstream,” Souderes said Friday.

The sinking and recovering of the barges was a big concern for residents and emergency officials at the time, he remembers.

“Chlorine gas is a very deadly gas,” he said. “It doesn’t take but a few whiffs and a few seconds for it to get into your lungs, and that’s it.”

When officials were preparing to raise the sunken barges back then, the town prepared for a leak. Everyone was given a gas mask to carry with them, and residents planned and practiced evacuation maneuvers.

This time, the barges that sank were carrying a much less toxic substance — limestone. But Souderes said it was important to be on the safe side every time.

“There are a lot of other chemicals out there going up and down the Mississippi River that are a concern to me,” he said.