blhanel wrote:This morning's news- even though we're on high ground, we're still feeling the effects of this in a big way today. Only one of Cedar Rapids four main water wells is still functioning, so the city has asked all residents to conserve water usage by only using it for drinking. Also, last night the water got so high that it started flooding the ground floor at Mercy Medical Center, which they are now evacuating. I think it's safe to assume that Joanie's knee surgery, which is scheduled for Monday at Mercy, will not happen.
Any updates on the two CNW bridges in CR?
spokyone wrote:From Wisconsin DOT. The highway bridge to Winona MN is now closed. A ferry is now running across the Missipp for passengers.
That wasnt due to the rain or anything, it was shut down because of structual
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MN_WINONA_BRIDGE_REOPENING_WIOL-?SITE=WIFON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.youtube.com/user/pavabo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulvbox
According to the net', that is non-flood related, as they found severe ammounts of corrision.
Phil
That isn't because of the flooding - they closed that bridge last week because they found some violations during inspection.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
From hearing chatter on the scanner, sounds like the CN is stopping all trains at FDL and not letting anything go south
Fond Du Lac and Oshkosh got drenched today with over 6 inches of rain. As i type this, another good storm is hitting the area. 50-75% of the city streets in Oshkosh is unpassable.
Saw video from Cedar Rapids and all I can say is WOW
Soo 6604 wrote: Theres a dam in Mukwonago, WI that the local news this morning was saying thats going to fail. Right in the rivers path is the CN mainline. Theyve said when the dam goes, the railroad bridge will go with it also. The line is the CN Chicago-Superior main located about 20-25 miles SW of Milwaukee on Interstate 43.
Theres a dam in Mukwonago, WI that the local news this morning was saying thats going to fail. Right in the rivers path is the CN mainline. Theyve said when the dam goes, the railroad bridge will go with it also.
The line is the CN Chicago-Superior main located about 20-25 miles SW of Milwaukee on Interstate 43.
If that dam holds through tonight, then I think it's a good dam.
My house is below the dam near the CN line in Antioch, IL. (I never knew the dam existed, let alone that my house was below it.) If that dam goes it'll take the CN line with it and dump the water into the Chain 'O Lakes which will flood a lot of homes near Antioch. I think my place will be OK. But here in my "other" home, an apartment in N. Fond du Lac, the water is within 3 feet of my patio and rising fast. It just keeps raining.
Off in the distance, an air horn keeps blowing. I think it's either a stalled trucker or a towboat making the first run on the new Wisconsin bargeway.
I just got back from Austin, MN - went there to help with the sandbagging efforts. Oakland Ave., which is the main east-west road through town is completely under water. I came in from the north and got a look at the flood water about 75 yds. west of the ICE (ex-MILW) line through town. The water was half-way up the side of a Winnebago that'd been left parked on the street. The river has crested and was receding when I got there, but after driving around for 30 min. I finally found two guys still filling sandbags in-case more rain appeared and I pitched-in.
Looks like the ICE's bridge over Oakland Ave. should be above water, but I couldn't see it from where I was and I couldn't get any closer. I'd have to believe the grade-crossing at 4th Ave. SE south of Oakland Ave. might be overrun.
A brief report of the railroad closures: http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/19872304.html
Sounds like the Zephyr is suspended and won't go through Iowa or Illinois. The floodwaters are about to go over the tracks in Ottumwa, IA, one of my favorite train watching locations. I was up there watching trains only three days ago ... I can't imagine how the railroads will be able to deal with this. All systems halted, it sounds like.
CShaveRR wrote: How high does it have to get before Hanelhurst is jeopardized?
How high does it have to get before Hanelhurst is jeopardized?
Oh, probably 133 feet... but then if it got that high, the whole Mississippi basin would be washed into the gulf.
Another couple of heavy thundershowers have gone through, and now we're up to 4.07 inches for the day.
EDIT: Final tally for the day (I hope so anyway, the radar looks clear to the west)- 4.49 inches.
They're claiming that this isn't really adding to the current flood crest, but I have a hard time believing that.
How high does it have to get before Hanelhurst is jeopardized? Saw Cedar Rapids on the network news tonight.
We're expecting some of your leftovers tonight; after it got up to 90 degrees today the storms could get violent.
We are now subdividing North Platte and Des Moines blocks, so that when things eventually get moving again, we'll be able to send some trains beyond those yards. At least that's the theory--so far Hinkle and Pocatello blocks don't take too much away from North Platte. They need a Salt Lake City block!
Besides, nothing's going anywhere, anyway, as of yet (but we're getting ready!).
Stay safe out there!
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
A couple of updates- our rain total today (since 6 AM) is now up to 3.86 inches according to my weather station, and there's another storm bearing down on us.
NOAA has revised their crest prediction for CR to 33 feet.
blhanel wrote: The railcars positioned on the UP bridge near Quaker are now half-submerged and reportedly "bobbing". I would suspect that the same is true on the UP transcon bridge.We just had another hour-long deluge of rain- I estimate that we've had 3.5" now since 6 AM this morning.
The railcars positioned on the UP bridge near Quaker are now half-submerged and reportedly "bobbing". I would suspect that the same is true on the UP transcon bridge.
We just had another hour-long deluge of rain- I estimate that we've had 3.5" now since 6 AM this morning.
Cripes! The footage, and the sattelite photos from Iowa, and Southern Wisconsin are unreal. Now, with most of Northern IL under a tornado, and flood watch, it is shaping up to be a long day. They are predicting anywhere from 3" of rain up near the WI border, to 1.5 to 2" as you go south, with the S. Burbs getting about 1".... I think, for the first time since 1993, Salt Creek near me just may go over it's banks, or come real close.
The event that struck me was the draining of Lake Delton up at the Wisconsin Dells, that was totally unreal.....
EDIT: They've added a picture to the story on the MILW bridge- click on the link in my previous post.
Wow....unbelievable. It just keeps getting worse.
Brian, with the Crandic bridge now gone can the UP's bridge across the Cedar near Quaker on the old passenger line withstand the fury? The Overland Route mainline bridge?
For the 3rd day in a row the CP mainline between Milwaukee and Portage is O.O.S.
This is from the Quad Cities IA NWS office....
FLOOD STATEMENTNATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL1009 AM CDT THU JUN 12 2008...A HISTORIC HYDROLOGIC EVENT IS EVOLVING...UNPRECEDENTED RIVERCRESTS ARE EXPECTED....RECORD FLOODING IS EXPECTED ON THE CEDAR RIVER IN EAST CENTRAL IOWA.THIS IS A SERIOUS SITUATION.INFORMATION FOR THE IOWA RIVER...IN EAST CENTRAL IOWA...WILL BEISSUED LATER THIS MORNING.RIVER FORECASTS TAKE INTO ACCOUNT PAST PRECIPITATION...AS WELL ASPRECIPITATION AMOUNTS EXPECTED 24 HOURS INTO THE FUTURE FROM THEFORECAST ISSUANCE TIME.SAFETY MESSAGE...IF YOU ENCOUNTER A FLOODED ROADWAY...TURN AROUNDAND FIND AN ALTERNATE ROUTE. TURN AROUND...DON/T DROWN.ADDITIONAL RIVER AND WEATHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT...HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/QUADCITIES .IAC011-113-130309-/O.EXT.KDVN.FL.W.0145.000000T0000Z-080619T1424Z//VINI4.3.ER.000000T0000Z.080612T1800Z.080618T0224Z.NR/1009 AM CDT THU JUN 12 2008...FLOOD WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL THURSDAY JUNE 19...THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE CEDAR RIVER AT VINTON.* UNTIL THURSDAY JUNE 19.* THERE IS NO CURRENT OBSERVED DATA.* RECORD FLOODING IS OCCURRING.* FLOOD STAGE IS 15 FEET.* FORECAST...CREST AROUND 24 FEET TODAY...THEN BEGIN FALLING SLOWLY
Not looking good for areas west of the Mississippi. I haven't looked at S. Wisconsin today yet, but, they are getting rained on right now, according to NWS radar. I remember 1993 quite well, but I don't remember it like this. So far here where I am, the creeks and rivers are up, but no mention of flooding, say, south of Lake and McHenry counties, as of yet. Depending on how much rain we get today, (some forecasts, and models say as much as 2.5" ) it could change the equation.
I have noticed that the frequency of freight trains seems to be lower on the BNSF at the moment. The first freight train I see every morning, comes in around 8:45 or so, and lately has been rather late. Is traffic being held up, or rerouted? Just curious.
I just heard unconfirmed reports from a couple of different sources that the old MILW bridge at Penford has failed. Monitoring the news sites for confirmation.
EDIT: CONFIRMED.
http://gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080612/NEWS/88202635/1001/NEWS
Latest news from CR this morning: much of the city is without power this morning (obviously not here yet) due to Alliant having to shut down and evacuate the C Street SW power plant. A levee broke on the NW side, flooding a neighborhood there. The crest has been revised again to 24.7 feet, but efforts to get the river level monitor back up and running have been unsuccessful, so we don't know how high it currently is.
And this morning's gullywasher added 2+ inches of fresh water to the mix.
They just announced on the radio that I-80 will have to be closed in Cedar County for a couple of days as water overflows bridges there.
CShaveRR wrote: Jeff, a while back we had pictures of a UP wreck near Tama; I think two trains were involved. The surrounding area looked pretty mushy back then; I was wondering whether this is where the blowout occurred.Brian, when I left work yesterday, the train with the Beverly cars hadn't departed yet. I'll check this morning to see whether it's still there.
Jeff, a while back we had pictures of a UP wreck near Tama; I think two trains were involved. The surrounding area looked pretty mushy back then; I was wondering whether this is where the blowout occurred.
Brian, when I left work yesterday, the train with the Beverly cars hadn't departed yet. I'll check this morning to see whether it's still there.
Carl, the wreck location is about 5 miles east of where the track is blocked. There was a spot about 3/4 of a mile west of the wreck site that had run off water running under the track. The ironic thing is that just a week or two ago they had the undercutter working thru there on track one. All that new ballast under water.
The whole area from Chelsea, IA to Montour, IA is in the Iowa River valley. Chelsea has always been prone to flooding and the US Government offered a buyout to residents a few years ago. About half took it and moved to higher ground. Last week, when the waters there were receding from the first go around, one of the old boys who didn't move was out mowing his lawn, at least the part that wasn't underwater. Last Monday his yard was entirely under water again with the water up to this guy's front door, but not yet into his house.
I saw on an IAIS list that MDMPR was detouring over the IAIS last night. I was surprised it took this long to do that. I think IAIS's problems are on the west side of Des Moines. There is a flood gate over the tracks there that I'm sure is closed now.
Jeff
Brian,
Simply some unbelievable pictures you got yesterday. How the Crandic bridge is managing to hang in there still I don't know. Your picture of the mainline bridge with cars on both tracks and Jeff's latest post leads me to think that the "Overland Route" is pretty much shut down for all intents and purposes across most of Iowa save for what ballast/work trains and local service they can run. Freaking unbelievable. Oh yeah, I heard last night as well about the tornadoes in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa; especially the one that hit the Little Sioux Boy Scout Camp. So incredibly sad.
Jeff, I'm guessing things aren't any better in western Iowa either from a rain standpoint after this last bout for both UP and CN.....
jeffhergert wrote: As I write this another line of severe thunderstorms that have been producing tornados is moving thru western Iowa. One earlier tonight at Little Sioux, IA, 40+ miles north of Omaha/Co Bluffs hit a scout camp. There are injuries reported, but so far my local news doesn't know any details.Jeff
As I write this another line of severe thunderstorms that have been producing tornados is moving thru western Iowa. One earlier tonight at Little Sioux, IA, 40+ miles north of Omaha/Co Bluffs hit a scout camp. There are injuries reported, but so far my local news doesn't know any details.
My local news said that there were "4 dead and at least 40 injured"
As for the dam in Mukwonago, its still there. Leave it up to the media to hype it up.
I posted about the pier shifting the other day. I heard it when leaving work, but can't confirm it. From what I heard, I was under the impression that the shifting might have to do more with erosion from run off than to flooding, but again can't confirm that.
Earlier today there were a couple of crews called for thru trains. They probably were just moving them out for staging. A while later, there were only two pool crews on duty, both on ballast trains.
The worst part at Tama is actually closer to Montour where the railroad crosses the Iowa River. There is a 4 to 5 mile section that is on low laying land close to the river. I saw a bulletin for single track pilots for 24 hour operation. Sounded like they hoped to have one of the tracks, probably #2, back in service then single track thru the last of the current of traffic territory.
I heard that Denison also was closed again this morning. The city constructed flood gates over the tracks last year. They had reopened, then it started raining again. As I write this another line of severe thunderstorms that have been producing tornados is moving thru western Iowa. One earlier tonight at Little Sioux, IA, 40+ miles north of Omaha/Co Bluffs hit a scout camp. There are injuries reported, but so far my local news doesn't know any details. My weather radio just went off with a severe thunderstom warning to the county next to us.
I last tied up Monday morning at 8AM, 56 times out and am still about 32 times out last time I checked. My mark keeps falling back. With Brian's pictures it looks like that mark is going to fall a bit more.
If the flooding hits BNSF's mainline through northern and western Missouri, their Transcon traffic moving to LA might have to go through Omaha or may even trespass on Union Pacific tracks through the Twin Cities then back through Iowa.
If you say this is as bad as '93, this is going to be a long summer for the midwestern railroads
That train for Beverly is not going to make it.
Here's why-
Other images I grabbed while out and about this evening...
The old MILW bridge by Penford is hanging in there so far!
You can still cross the 8th Ave. bridge, but beyond that your choices are becoming increasingly limited:
Penford's working hard to increase their flood protection:
First Ave. West is now under water-
and the bridges are disappearing.
CN's departure yard is now unusable.
And, to make matters more uncertain, when the shut the power off to downtown the battery on the river level monitor didn't kick in, so now they don't know what the level is. I guess a city crew is on its way to the monitor in a boat to replace the battery.
I couldn't find a cubit on Jim's site, Brian, but it's about a foot and a half.
The flooding is definitely affecting us here--we're holding onto cars for North Platte and Des Moines, due primarily (or so I'm told) to a washout at Tama. I presume that North Platte will have a bunch of trains to send us as well, when the line is opened. So far, we can still get to Rochelle and Nelson. Until we get something to do, though, they've taken off a few jobs. We'll probably be putting the regular jobs on, and a few extras besides, when we have to send the cars out.
Brian, we made up a train for Beverly today, so I'm hoping it'll get through to you. Thanks to you, I know that the yard's beyond the Cedar River bridge!
I heard a rumor that one of the piers for the new Des Moines River bridge was shifted by a few inches. Any truth to that, and what will have to be done about it?
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