Severe weather and record floods "has caused significant damage” to our Union Pacific’s rail network, making “it necessary to issue embargoes for traffic moving across certain parts of our east-west main line across Iowa," said John J. “Jack” Koraleski, UP’s executive vice president.
In a letter to customers, Koraleski said "rainfall in parts of Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin and Kansas has reached the eight to 10-inch range, resulting in stream and river flooding that has washed out or weakened bridges and large sections of main line track. At this time, the most significant impact of the flooding on the Union Pacific system is in the state of Iowa where 54 of the 99 counties have been declared disaster areas.
"Due to the widespread nature of the flooding, we have only limited reroute capability. As a result, Union Pacific is issuing embargoes," he said. "Generally, these impact all manifest and automotive traffic originating at points west of Beverly, Iowa (which is located west of Cedar Rapids) and moving to points east of Beverly -- including traffic interchanged over the Chicago gateway."
He said that based on current conditions, "the embargoes are anticipated to be in place for as long as a week, however, weather conditions will ultimately determine when an embargo can be lifted."
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