Crying Out A River

Iowa has experienced some of the worst flooding ever recorded since the Great Flood of 1993.
No, the flooding over there could easily surpass the totals from 15 years back.

In terms of railroad traffic, the major flooding cramped enough folks' styles, whether it be local industries or the small town farmers' co-op. Iowa Interstate (ex-Rock Island), Iowa, Chicago & Eastern (ex-Soo Line & Milwaukee Road), Union Pacific & Burlington Northern Santa Fe (which runs through the southern part of the state) each got hit hard in their own ways. From bridge washouts to major standing water, rail traffic last week took a major hit (as well as plenty of detours).

The situation with railroad operations is slowly but surely returning to normal in the southern & central parts of Iowa but downstream along the Mississippi, we're bracing for the worst, not only in places like Fort Madison & Burlington but also down the river in Missouri & Illinois. Freight users there know they've got their work cut out for them in regards to getting materials from point A to point B; detouring for the past week has been commonplace beyond belief. Yet BNSF, UP, IC&E, as well as IAIS have been up to the task, assessing their losses as they go & not slouching around in getting repair work done. Not only that, each of these railways has made the effort to work their way around majorly flooded areas - this isn't to say that their formulations have been easy but they've gotten the job done.

Our only hope is that the floodwaters will recede; enough folks are suffering as it is. I'm not solely talking about the railroad corporations who are dependent on their trains to get grain, coal & other whatnot to their respective destinations. I'm talking about the residents of small towns on the Iowa, Mississippi & Cedar Rivers, whose lives (& possibly their whole communities) have been greatly affected by the flooding, which to them is 1993 revisited with a vengeance.

In the Midwest, flooding has been the topic of the day for the past couple of weeks; one hopes that things let up before any more damage has been done. 15 years after the last Great Flood, one only hopes that the flooding draws to a close soon. But when?