Hurricane Katrina

[nanaimo73]

The CSX (former L&N) line from New Orleans to Mobile is extremely vulnerable to these storms. It received a lot of damage from Emma on Sept. 19, 1947 and Betsy on Sept 9, 1965. Hopefully this is the last bad storm this year.
Here are some Google links to the most vulnerable parts. Click on Satellite or hybrid to see the images.
Rigolets, Louisiana
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.156779,-89.628954&spn=0.022350,0.039546
Bay St. Louis, Mississippi (the rail bridge is dark)
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.308208,-89.309235&spn=0.022315,0.039546
Biloxi Bay, Mississippi
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.409843,-88.850943&spn=0.011146,0.019773
Pascagoula Bay, Mississippi
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.372801,-88.595724&spn=0.022300,0.039546

[Anonymous]

My prayers are with all those in harm's way.

[Anonymous]

Was watching as the big cantilevered crossing signals on Hwy 80 in Gulfport came down behing the CNN crew...

Flooding at 10' + in Gulfport....sailboats sailing themselves down Hwy 80...

Roofs flying...Superdome roof holed...

LC

[Junctionfan]

Part of the Superdome's roof is peeling off. This started to happen at 80mph winds. I have know idea what will happen when the 130mph winds hit.

Mississippi is getting hit pretty good too. The river is starting really raise and the had reports of boats floating down I90 highway. Downtown Biloxi is starting to look a little bit like Venice. I have not heard to much about Alabama; any word on how folk there are coping?

[Anonymous]

When I lived in New Orleans ,I remember people saying that parts of the French Quarter are 13' below sea level.
With the wind hitting from the South east, it will drive massive amounts of water into Lake Ponchitrain. As I remember, the levees on the Lake Front are not more that 10' higher than the lake at normal water levels. It's not going to be pretty.

[passengerfan]

Kozzie Remember well when Tracy hit Darwin. Was visiting inlaws in WA at the time. Also remember the first request for aid sent out was for Beer not water or food. Have always admired people who get their priorities in order.

[Anonymous]

CNN reporting that Katrina has now dropped back to Category 4 from Category 5 as of 0205 CDT. Keep your fingers crossed...

LC

[Anonymous]

Katrina update

By Saturday, Amtrak had made many changes to its schedules in the Southland. Equipment in New Orleans was being moved to higher ground. The Louisiana city is six feet below sea level. Hurricane Katrina had grown to a category 5 storm with sustained winds of 160 mph.

Train 59 of August 27 terminated in Memphis on Saturday while No. 58 on Sunday originated in Memphis.

No. 19 of the 26th terminated at Birmingham, but No. 20 left New Orleans normally on the 27th.

Train 19 of the 27th terminated Atlanta while Sunday’s No. 20 originated Atlanta.

Train 2 of the 26th terminated San Antonio, and buses carried passenger to Houston. Train 2 on the 28th terminated at San Antonio. No. 1 originated at San Antonio.

A few Florida East Coast trains moved southward on Friday, but not to Miami. A pair of light Air Force SWs, 2000 and 2007, traveled northward to Bowden Yard in Jacksonville.

Hialeah Yard in South Florida sustained heavy damage. Several long freight cars overturned, including container cars and at least one empty autorack.

FEC’s spokesman Husein Cumber said “Hialeah Yard was hit hard.” He added, “Several cars were blown around or knocked over. We have everything rerailed, and power was restored to the yard” Saturday morning.

He said there were no injuries, and the “Locomotives are all okay,” and added the railroad was “trying to open the railroad to Miami today.”


From National Corridors website

LC

[Modelcar]

....And Ed if the levees are breeched one would think the water will just continue to pour in until it is overcome...{fixed}....! Terrible possibilities.

[Modelcar]

....Sure hope the structure of the Superdome will be strong and secure enough to weather this massive storm with tens of thousands of folks in it......Heard someone say it was built to withstand 130 mph wind, etc....

[Wdlgln005]

I'm going to be on the lookout for more traffic moving thru Memphis. The Southern should have an old line just south of the TN state line thru Mississippi & Alabama. CSX has the old L&N connection thru Nashville. There may not be many rail bridges south of Memphis with capacity to take a lot of traffic.

It appears the hurricane may hit Nashville sometime Tuesday. The local weather has issued storm warnings with possible flooding all day. Depending on how much rain we get, I'm glad I don't live on any bottomland.

THe need to evacuate lare numbers of people shows why we need the states & locals to get involved with Amtrak. I'm sure in the old days, the RR's would have fleets of cars closer to the scene. THe L&N had an extensive service from Nashville south to Mobile & New Orleans. THe Southern had another route linking Atlanta with New Orleans. I bet the co's could cooperate to get trains & people out of harm's way.

[Junctionfan]

I really wished they had declared a mandatory evacuation a day ago. I don't think looting would be an issue because it is unfortunate but I heard that most of the city would be underneath 30 feet of water so unless you have scuba gear, not happening.

I really feel vexed for the poor folk who didn't have a vehicle to leave and are now couped up at home if not at the superdome.

[edblysard]

Remember, most of the city of New Orleans is below sea level, six feet or more...and the levees were designed for 15 foot storm surges.
Katrina has predicted 20 foot plus surge...
And, once flooded, the water has no where to drain too…its all “uphill”, so no gravity drains…they have to pump it out.

You can't beg, borrow or steal a hotel or motel room in Houston right now!
News cast at 5 pm said mandatory evacuation for the City of New Orleans...and as was pointed out, the Super Dome is open as a shelter in place...

Our electricity company already has all of its linemen on standby to move in when the storm is past.
Good luck guys...


Ed

[Anonymous]

Can you say Crude Oil going up to $120.00 a berral. OUCH. This country is going into lock down. Allan.

[Kozzie]

Here Downunder we've just woken up on Monday morning to the news that Katrina has been upgraded to a category 5. We too are keenly aware of what can happen to a coastal city in the path of a hurricane. The city of Darwin (top end downunder) copped a Category 5 back in '74 - Cyclone Tracy - with similar wind speeds to that of Katrina.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of New Orleans and Louisianna.

Dave

[Junctionfan]

Any word on KCS,CN,UP and BNSF yet? What about any shortlines in the area; what are they going to do?

[Anonymous]

Service Bulletin - Hurricane Katrina, Aug. 28
Released: Aug 28, 2005

Hurricane Katrina is now a Category 5 storm, and it continues to move WNW in the Gulf of Mexico. Predications are that the storm will make landfall near New Orleans, La., mid-day Monday, Aug. 29. Flood gates in New Orleans were closed at 6 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28, and rail traffic in the area is suspended.

CSXT is monitoring the path of Hurricane Katrina and has activated its hurricane preparedness plan for the Gulf Coast. Some traffic scheduled for interchange with other railroads at New Orleans is being rerouted through different gateways. Weather conditions permitting, rail traffic will continue to run as usual today from Mobile east through the Florida Panhandle.

As a result of the initial impact of Katrina in south Florida on Friday, freight and passenger service on CSXT's network is being restored incrementally as subdivisions are inspected and deemed safe for operations. Tri-Rail service is scheduled to resume Monday, Aug. 29.

All precautions are being taken to ensure the safety of our employees, customers, and the public with minimum delay to shipments as we continue to monitor the progress of the storm.

For more information, customers can call their local CSX representatives or the CSX Customer Service Center at 1-877-SHIP CSX (1-877-744-7279).

[Anonymous]

Norfolk Southern Service Alert

Hurricane Katrina

August 28, 2005

In preparation for Hurricane Katrina, Norfolk Southern has pulled
rolling equipment on its lines near coastal areas and low lying areas
in southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama inland to higher
ground. Operations south of Meridian, Miss., to New Orleans, La., and
South of Selma, Ala., to Mobile, Ala., were discontinued early Sunday
afternoon. Operations south of Birmingham have been curtailed and will
be discontinued later today. Traffic normally moving though these areas
for interchange is generally being rerouted in cooperation with other
carriers.

Norfolk Southern embargoed all shipments to New Orleans and Mobile.
This action was taken to avoid further complication of operations due
to congestion in the area expected to be impacted by the Category 5
storm.

Customers with traffic to, from, or normally moving through the areas
impacted by Hurricane Katrina should anticipate delays.

For questions on specific shipments, please contact our Customer
Service Operations Center at [phone].

For questions regarding potential impact on local service in this area,
please contact our Central Yard Operations Center at [phone].

------------------
Norfolk Southern Corporation
www.nscorp.com

[JoeKoh]

they are opening up the superdome for an evacuation shelter.if there is a large storm surge new orleans would be under water.I hope people are still able to get out now.
stay safe
Joe

[Junctionfan]

They must do this quickly if they are going to do it. They must send at least 3 trains of 50 coachs from anywhere that can get car either commuter cars or even private railcars, museum stuff, what ever that can fit folk on.

Load them on to the trains via buses that go and pick up folk from where ever.

The army and national guard must help out too. The trains could fit almost 5000 folk per train.

This is the real deal folks. There is talk that the surges will me 28 feet high with "catastophic loss of life and property damage" so the railroads should also get cracking and move all their equipment out of Louisiana. Not since Hurricane Betsy in 1965 has it been this bad and I don't even think it was as bad as this. This hurricane will be as strong as a 300 mile wide F3 tornado.

Please everybody, pray for them all.

[martin.knoepfel]

In my opinion, evacuation of large cities is done most efficiently by railroad or by ships. The federal government or the state-governments in the south and south-east should buy bilevel passenger-cars + engines and hire them out to mass-transportation-agencies. Of course, only under the condition the passenger-cars and engines can be called for evacuation-service on short notice.

The railroads serving the potential disaster-zone should be legally obliged to free engineers to run evacuation-trains, even if freight is delayed.

[Junctionfan]

I am watching CNN right now on the approaching category 5 hurricane. It is traffic chaos.

Bush says he is marshalling federal resources to the area when need well;

It is chaos right now; send some extra long Amtrak trains to get folk out. Round up as much coach cars or those ex CNW bi-level commuter cars from Chicago and send them down to evacuate the folk to near by states?

[dehusman]

Don't plan on doing much railfanning in southern Louisianna or Mississippi for the next week. The railroads will be diverting/rerouting/parking traffic around those entire areas for the next week or so.

Dave H.

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trainman2244

I read somewhere that railroads take off crossing gates to keep them from being projectiles [:0]

In this storm wind and crossing arms may become a moot point. Once under water, they pose little threat.[:0][:(][;)]

[Anonymous]

Well today we will learn what it takes to defend the city against super typhoons. I only hope everyone who is able to, got out.

This will be the day of days for this great city.

[Anonymous]

I read somewhere that railroads take off crossing gates to keep them from being projectiles [:0]

[Big_Boy_4005]

I would think that the railroads would want to get every piece of equipment possible out of the path of a hurricane, and tie down what they can't move. This one sounds especially bad. Of course a hurricane poses two distinct threats, wind and flooding.

I can't speak for New Orleans, but when it comes to flooding up here along the Mississippi, the railroads do empty their low lying yards if spring flooding is expected.

This is slightly off topic, but the photo below is CP's Pig's Eye yard. Last time the Mississippi flooded this was empty, and there was a small amount of standing water in the yard. Another problem was that the mains in this area were closed, so any cars left behind would have been trapped.



The city of New Orleans is protected from the Mississippi by huge levees. Part of the city is below river level (below sea level), and relies on a pump system to keep from flooding. If this storm hits full force, those pumps will be pushed to their limits. This is why the people are being told to get out. If the river exceedes the levee height, it's over. There's no place to pump the water.

Again slightly off topic, railroads sometimes need to cross levees. When this happens, they can't just raise their grade. This photo shows the UP's track passing through the Army Corps' St Paul flood control wall. When the water gets too high, the wall section can be inserted into the channels in the posts, adding another 3 feet of flood protection to the land behind. This is one of many removable flood gates, and a very small one at that. Some in other locations are over 10' tall.



Keep in mind, if that little gate ever has to be closed, the bridge over the river is already under water.



A hurricane will dump water everywhere, but by closing gates along the levee, they may still be able to keep the river from spilling over.

One last thought about flooding. Any loads caught in a flood, would be destroyed.

[Modelcar]

...History tells us as it travels across land it will diminish in strength but probably will carry massive rain with it...and we're expecting some of that rain out here in Indiana Tuesday night and Wednesday....

[CSXrules4eva]

Well, we will just have to see what will happend to poor old New Orleans in the up comming days. I can imagine they are going to get hit pretty darn hard, I hope every one down there is prepaired for the worst.

Now I just wonder is Katrina going to be making her way over to the great state of the US the Northeast and if so is the storm going to still be strong or is it just going to be the aftermath of it's violent rain and winds??

[Modelcar]

....Heard this morning if it continues and does come ashore at New Orleans, the sea could rise 25-30' and if so with the extreme wind....will be a disaster...for almost anything in it's path. New Orleans is already what...6 to 10 ft. below sea level in some places...This will be a distructive one to say the least. Sure hope people take heed as being advised....To leave...Now...!