Flooding in Upper Midwest

[CANADIANPACIFIC2816]

I was on my way home when I stopped at my bank to deposit my most recent pay check, and I spoke briefly with the bank's receptionist. I told her that the few problems I have are nothing compared to the people who have lost their homes in the flooding of Cedar Rapids. She told me that she heard that Des Moines, Iowa is now being evacuated. I was listening to the news and this was confirmed for me within the last half hour, and certainly it is not a happy situation.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota is surrounded on three sides by the Big Sioux River, and we might not face a disaster of such a magnitude in the next hundred years, but I am inclined to think that sooner or later it will happen. I remember my Dad's mother telling me out of sheer ignorance several years ago that we would never have to worry about a tornado hitting Sioux Falls, because we are surrounded on three sides by the river, and yet in 1968 a tornado whipped it's way across a lake in Minnesota and wiped out a little community known as Tracy.

Ray

[CShaveRR]

Dan, I'm not sure I'd want to be a MofW employee right now, either--at this point you're standing by helplessly while all of your handiwork goes underwater and/or downstream.  When water recedes, though, you're probably right.

I read elsewhere that UP has embargoed all traffic from the east for west of the Mississippi River.  We're finding it tough to classify things in our yard, because of all of the stuff that isn't moving.

[EJE818]

Ok, the bridge in Oshkosh didn't collapse, but it does sound like it does have some flooding damage. The news article from there I read said it did, but that was false. The derailment happened about 2 miles from Oshkosh, but it does sound like the line is closed due to the derailment and flooding.

[Victrola1]

I have been told a Cedar Rapids television station showed a creek overflowing the Union Pacific mainline and yards at Beverly.

Any confirmation?

 

 

[n012944]

Dan, I'm not sure I'd want to be a MofW employee right now, either--at this point you're standing by helplessly while all of your handiwork goes underwater and/or downstream.  When water recedes, though, you're probably right.

I read elsewhere that UP has embargoed all traffic from the east for west of the Mississippi River.  We're finding it tough to classify things in our yard, because of all of the stuff that isn't moving.

 

And things are starting to stack up on the east side.  It will be a mess by the start of next week if the embargo is not lifted.

[blhanel]

Yep, Prairie Creek is out of its banks- probably a combination of backing up from the Cedar and flooding from yesterday's rains.  The UP main on the east end of Beverly is under water.

[spokyone]

Ground is spongy in Rock Island. The tracks gave away. IAIA 712went down.

 

[Anonymous]

The IDOT just announced that I-380 over the Coralville Reservoir between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City will be closed by 6 PM today.  Water from the reservoir is on the verge of flowing OVER the freeway.  Their recommended detour- take I-80 west to I-35 at Des Moines, I-35 north to US 20, US 20 east to I-380 at Waterloo, then I-380 south!

Saw some more aerial video this afternoon which showed that the old Rock Island RR bridge south of downtown, which was abandoned and the city wanted to remove, is now in the drink.  Takes care of that problem...

Do you mean the ROCK's old bridge that used to go over the CNW main at C Street?  That was removed and replaced with a walking bridge.  Do you mean a different one?

Not much has been said about the Iowa Northern.  Their ex-ROCK line north out of Cedar Rapids must be submerged as it runs along the north bank of the Cedar, and they go through Vinton and Palo that have been hit hard.  They're gonna have a ton of work to do.

[jeffhergert]

The IDOT just announced that I-380 over the Coralville Reservoir between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City will be closed by 6 PM today.  Water from the reservoir is on the verge of flowing OVER the freeway.  Their recommended detour- take I-80 west to I-35 at Des Moines, I-35 north to US 20, US 20 east to I-380 at Waterloo, then I-380 south!

Saw some more aerial video this afternoon which showed that the old Rock Island RR bridge south of downtown, which was abandoned and the city wanted to remove, is now in the drink.  Takes care of that problem...

Do you mean the ROCK's old bridge that used to go over the CNW main at C Street?  That was removed and replaced with a walking bridge.  Do you mean a different one?

Not much has been said about the Iowa Northern.  Their ex-ROCK line north out of Cedar Rapids must be submerged as it runs along the north bank of the Cedar, and they go through Vinton and Palo that have been hit hard.  They're gonna have a ton of work to do.

I think he means the RI bridge that crossed the Cedar River.  It would be north of the C Street overpass.  

Jeff

[t.winx]

Not a good time to be working for the RR.  Unless you're MOW!

Not necessarily! No trains running means paid days off!

[CNW 6000]

I think the CN wash near Oshkosh is repaired, at least enough to run on.  There have been 3 NB and 3 SB trains since 9:10 this morning.  I think they are the first ones since Thursday of the past week to run.  All were at 10-15ish MPH.  A source I know reports that the unit and cars that tipped are still on their sides in the mud but there's too many CN officials and Rent-a-cops around the area to linger.  They'll let you cross the tracks but you can't sit near the crossing.

[jeffhergert]

Not a good time to be working for the RR.  Unless you're MOW!

Not necessarily! No trains running means paid days off!

Not if your job doesn't have a guarantee.  The engineer's road pools out of Boone don't, the conductors do.  I've noticed some use single vacation days or paid personal leave days.  Some have given up their pool turn and gone to the extra board, which does have a guarantee.

Because a few gave up their turns in the West Pool, I was notified this morning that my standing bid has put me back in the West Pool.  (Sorry Brian, we'll just have to have a member's get together sometime in CR.)  Since when assigned the pool turn was out at Fremont, I called in and took a couple of paid days.  I last tied up Monday (6/9)at 8AM, 56 times out and when reassigned I had made it up to 16 times out.  (I couldn't jump ship to the extra board because I bumped into the East Pool in May and our local rules require us to stay on an assignment 30 days before voluntarily giving it up.  Besides, I don't care to go to Mason City, and it's not because of RRKen.)    

The last I heard, the UP expected the tracks around Beverly to be reopened this coming Monday.  Of course that's assuming no major damage found once the water goes down and no more heavy rain.  I notice as of this writing, there are two isolated thunderstorms one over Waterloo/Cedar Falls and the other over by Tama. 

Jeff

  

[Soo 6604]

I think the CN wash near Oshkosh is repaired, at least enough to run on.  There have been 3 NB and 3 SB trains since 9:10 this morning.  I think they are the first ones since Thursday of the past week to run.  All were at 10-15ish MPH.  A source I know reports that the unit and cars that tipped are still on their sides in the mud but there's too many CN officials and Rent-a-cops around the area to linger.  They'll let you cross the tracks but you can't sit near the crossing.

Did you make it all the way to Neenah this morning? Neenah suffered a major melt down this morning because a pin was sheared and the truck shifted to the rear of the car just before the coupler

[blhanel]

The IDOT just announced that I-380 over the Coralville Reservoir between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City will be closed by 6 PM today.  Water from the reservoir is on the verge of flowing OVER the freeway.  Their recommended detour- take I-80 west to I-35 at Des Moines, I-35 north to US 20, US 20 east to I-380 at Waterloo, then I-380 south!

Saw some more aerial video this afternoon which showed that the old Rock Island RR bridge south of downtown, which was abandoned and the city wanted to remove, is now in the drink.  Takes care of that problem...

Do you mean the ROCK's old bridge that used to go over the CNW main at C Street?  That was removed and replaced with a walking bridge.  Do you mean a different one?

Not much has been said about the Iowa Northern.  Their ex-ROCK line north out of Cedar Rapids must be submerged as it runs along the north bank of the Cedar, and they go through Vinton and Palo that have been hit hard.  They're gonna have a ton of work to do.

I think he means the RI bridge that crossed the Cedar River.  It would be north of the C Street overpass.  

Jeff

That's correct, it's just northeast of Mount Trashmore.

Just got another .35 of rain here, which is actually good, as it filled a barrel under my downspout with good toilet flushing water.

[Anonymous]

Here is how you can help in the felief efforts for the victims of the flooding in the midwest:

http://www.redcross.org/pressrelease/0,1077,0_314_7844,00.html

http://www.usc.salvationarmy.org/usc/WWW_USC.nsf/vw-news/763F28E2FB2F6C0D862574630064FD24?opendocument

Please bookmark them for you use, and also pass them along to your friends so that we all can help in the relief effort.

 

 

[Victrola1]

http://www.westburlingtoncity.com//index.php?m=20080615

 

From these photos, it looks like points to the south are getting it. No Zephyr through Burlington for a while.

[eolafan]

Not even close to the 1993 flooding, not even close...but bad enough just the same.

Since I originally wrote the post above the situation has grown much worse and has surpassed the impacts on 1993 so I am formally posting again to admit I was very wrong in my assessment and prognostication.

[EJE818]

The Empire Builder is now originating/terminating in Minneapolis due to the BNSF line being plugged up. That means the Builder and the Zephyr are now using buses into Chicago. I saw a couple coal trains on the Rochelle webcam. BNSF is rerouting coal trains due to the Iowa flooding. Very little has been going through on UP. CP hasn't been using BNSF either, also probably due to the extra BNSF trains. They have been running up to 8 detours a day on IC&E.

[TPWRY]

The Empire Builder is now originating/terminating in Minneapolis due to the BNSF line being plugged up. That means the Builder and the Zephyr are now using buses into Chicago. I saw a couple coal trains on the Rochelle webcam. BNSF is rerouting coal trains due to the Iowa flooding. Very little has been going through on UP. CP hasn't been using BNSF either, also probably due to the extra BNSF trains. They have been running up to 8 detours a day on IC&E.

good thing i went to rochelle yesterday BNSF only had 11 trains go through when i was there (including the amtrak train #7) in a 11-12 hour period the UP only had 7

[alstom]

Hello all,

I am expecting to be in Grand Island, NE on Wednesday (6/18). From what I am hearing, UP and BNSF will be very slow through there. What do you guys think? Should railroads be running pretty steadily by then? I am with the Revelation Video Co. and we are doing the 6th "Longest Day" video at Grand Island, and we'd like to see train action. So, how many trains do you suspect will be heading through Grand Island on Wednesday? And what are the current stats on BNSF and UP on these lines? And recommendations of where we should relocate instead?

Thanks. 

[blhanel]

NOAA's website shows that the Cedar here in town is currently stuck at 24.3 feet, still way above the previous all-time record and probably uncomfortably close to the UP's bridge deck yet.  I still haven't seen any pictures or footage of the bridge since the crest, so I don't know how the cars in my picture fared.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=dvn&gage=cidi4&view=1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1

Hopefully it will resume its retreat soon.

According to the experts, our flood rates a 5 on a scale of 1 to 6 for disasters.  There have been only two 6's- 9/11 and Katrina.

EDIT: Article from yesterday's Des Moines Register on the current condition of Iowa's railroads-

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080614/BUSINESS/806140324/1029

[spokyone]

This is what happened on my side of the Mississippi. The M&SL engine & CBQ caboose was placed well above the flood level here in Keithsburg.

http://qconline.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge_remote.asp?remoteimageid=732070

 

[t.winx]

Hello all,

I am expecting to be in Grand Island, NE on Wednesday (6/18). From what I am hearing, UP and BNSF will be very slow through there. What do you guys think? Should railroads be running pretty steadily by then? I am with the Revelation Video Co. and we are doing the 6th "Longest Day" video at Grand Island, and we'd like to see train action. So, how many trains do you suspect will be heading through Grand Island on Wednesday? And what are the current stats on BNSF and UP on these lines? And recommendations of where we should relocate instead?

Thanks. 

Expect a LOT less trains than usual. UP's main through iowa will probably still be at a standstill so the only trains you will see on that line will be ones coming from Omaha. BNSF's coal line through IL is also closed and that will definately have an impact on this line, though probably not as much the UP line (not sure where all BNSF's coal trains are heading). I am just guessing, but there might not even be close to half the normal traffic amounts.

You will see UP trains moving from Gibbon west. The usual parade of coal trains will be moving plus you'll see the detours being run on the BNSF transcon, like the Z-trains.

[beaulieu]

The Empire Builder is now originating/terminating in Minneapolis due to the BNSF line being plugged up. That means the Builder and the Zephyr are now using buses into Chicago. I saw a couple coal trains on the Rochelle webcam. BNSF is rerouting coal trains due to the Iowa flooding. Very little has been going through on UP. CP hasn't been using BNSF either, also probably due to the extra BNSF trains. They have been running up to 8 detours a day on IC&E.

 

CP is routing all traffic to and from Chicago and Milwaukee for points in Western Canada via the scenic route through Detroit and Toronto. They were supposed to move some Portage, WI based crews to Ft. Wayne, IN to cover for the extra trains. Probably at least a week before CP is back running through Reeseville Marsh. At last report the water was 50" above the top of the rail. Only 198/199 and traffic for Soo Line points is supposed to be detouring over the IC&E.

[CShaveRR]

Brian, I saw two different pictures of the bridge, which were about one foot and three feet below the obvious high-water line (on the power pole nearby).  The cars were still there, and in the latter shot the handrails of the bridge were just peeking.  I'm sure the bridge survived, but don't know about much else.  The cars will definitely need inspection (at least) before being used again.

We've been moving westbounds out of the yard, ready for the line to reopen (they're probably strung out along the main line from here to there!).  We got an MCBPR to hump yesterday; have no idea how that got to us.  This week's perishable train was being routed via Kansas City, St. Louis, and Yard Center to CSX at Barr Yard (it made it to KC last I checked).

One thing to point out--when it's time to get our railroad back in business, there will be no National Guard, no FEMA, or anything like that--it'll be all UP folks doing the work.  Same for the other lines.

[Anonymous]

all i  can say is this will be a Dispatchers nightmare when this is over, and a MOW workers nightmare.

[Los Angeles Rams Guy]

Considering how badly the Turkey River flooded at Elkader, Iowa I'm wondering if the ICE mainline between La Crescent and Samoa will get hit again where it crosses the Turkey.  It just got flooded back in late April/early May.

From the latest Trains Magazine update I got, sounds like the CN's Iowa Division mainline is closed because of the Cedar River in Cedar Falls and another washout near Denison. 

Brian/Jeff, any idea as to how long the UP's "Overland Route" mainline may be closed to thru traffic? 

 

[wjstix]

Amtrak service from Chicago to Twin Cities / Chicago to Denver suspended.

BTW Spoky, appears that's a Burlington Route caboose behind the M-St.L engine.

[jcitron]

Here's a video off of the Weather Channel in regards to a bridge in Cedar Rapids.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid823425597/bclid877032950/bctid1604978369

It looks like the hopper cars full of ballast couldn't stabilize the bridge.

John 

 

[eolafan]

Here is an excerpt from Amtrak's web site regarding the California Zephyr and also the Empire Builder service to Washington state. Their web site also noted Lincoln Service from Chicago and St. Louis as well as the Texas Eagle service is stopping at Lincoln, IL and NOT going past there to St. Louis because of the flooding:

Service Alert: Empire Builder and California Zephyr - Midwest Flooding Disrupts Service June 15, 2008 2 pm CDT Flooding in Wisconsin and Iowa is affecting Amtrak service between Chicago and Seattle/Portland, via Milwaukee and St. Paul and between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay, via Omaha and Denver. The full route between Kansas City and St. Louis, closed to passenger trains between Kansas City and Jefferson City, Mo., on June 14, is reopened to Amtrak trains, effective June 16. In addition to closing railroad routes and stations, flooded highways are making the provision of alternate transportation by chartered motorcoach impossible in some cases. Passengers are urged to call Amtrak at 800-USA-RAIL if they have travel plans on the two routes below, through June 18. Those passengers with telephone contact information in their reservations are being called by Amtrak and offered future travel dates. Empire Builder, Trains 7/27/807 & 8/28/808 Service by the Empire Builder between St. Paul and Chicago is temporarily suspended due to flooding on the Canandian Pacific Railway route, effective June 10, and the closing of a detour route on the BNSF Railway, effective June 15. Alternate transportation by chartered motorcoach will be provided between St. Paul and Chicago, with the exceptions of Portage, Columbus and Milwaukee, Wisc., and Glenview, Ill. Amtrak Hiawatha Service trains are available as alternate transportation to and from Glenview and Milwaukee. California Zephyr, Trains 5 & 6 Service by the California Zephyr between Chicago and Denver is temporarily suspended due to flooding on the BNSF Railway route in Iowa, effective with the departures from Chicago on June 13 and from Emeryville, Cal. on June 12. Alternate transportation will be provided between Denver and points in Nebraska, including Omaha, by chartered motorcoaches. No alternate transportation is available to or from points in Iowa. Alternate transportation between Chicago and other points in Illinois will be provided by other Amtrak trains. Amtrak regrets any inconvenience. This information is correct as of the above time and date. Information is subject to change as conditions warrant. Passengers are encouraged to call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com for schedule information and train status updates.