Authorities responded to another train derailment in a small northwest Iowa town Sunday morning after a week of heavy rains.
Sioux County authorities said no one was hurt in the accident and no hazardous materials had leaked into the Floyd River or could be detected in the air above Alton, near where the train crashed Sunday.
In an email, Raquel Espinoza, a senior director of corporate communications for Union Pacific, said “recent flooding may have contributed to the accident.”
The massive crash followed days of heavy rain in the area, which had elevated the river below the railroad bridge to a record high earlier in the week. As of early Sunday afternoon, the Floyd River was still barely above flood stage at 13 feet, meteorologist Kyle Weisser with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, told the Register.
Espinoza said an estimated 37 of the train’s 95 cars derailed. The train, on its way to North Platte, Nebraska, from Mankato, Minnesota, was carrying industrial sand and soybean oil. Some of the sand spilled into the river, but Espinoza said later Sunday night that no soybean oil had leaked into the river that Union Pacific was aware of.
Twenty of the derailed cars fell into the river, according to Union Pacific. The bridge beneath the train was destroyed.
In an aerial video posted on Facebook, the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office shows a line of mangled cars sitting in the Floyd River. The accident occurred Sunday morning at around 4:30 a.m., Alton City Administrator Dale Oltmans said.
Oltmans said the bridge over the river is “gone … laying in pieces underneath the train.” Several local fire departments, county officials and Union Pacific personnel responded to the early morning crash.
Oltmans said people living three or four blocks away from the bridge heard the loud crash, the second train derailment of the year in northwest Iowa.
On June 22, 32 freight cars carrying crude oil derailed in the Rock River, spilling thousands of gallons of the oil. The river had also taken on heavy rains in the days leading up to the incident.
Weisser said that the area of the state around Alton received 4-8 inches of rain earlier in the week. According to weather service measurements, Alton received 4.58 inches of rain between Tuesday and Friday.
The heavy rains forced the city to close a section of Third Avenue that goes above the river, Oltmans said. It was still closed as of Sunday afternoon.
The Floyd River, Weisser said, peaked on Thursday afternoon at 21.96 feet — about 12 feet above flood stage. When the train derailed, the weather service’s measurements showed the fallen cars acting as a temporary dam for the river.
Espinoza said Union Pacific looks into weather forecasts and environmental conditions where trains operate, she said. The company urges its crews to be safe if they run into a weather-related issue that could affect the train’s ability to move down the tracks.
Part of the crash investigation will include will include what if any communications the crew received about its trip, Espinoza said.
The sheriff’s office also issued an alert Sunday afternoon, advising drivers to avoid traveling through Alton to allow the authorities and their equipment to clean up the wreck.
Cedar Rapids prepares for river to crest
Like northwest Iowa, other parts of the state received copious amounts of rain last week, leading to some towns flooding and at least one other preparing for that possibility.
In the northwest corner of the state, the rain caused rivers to swell and flood parts of Le Mars and Spencer along with Alton, according to the weather service.
Rod Donavon, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines, said as of Sunday, there was only minor flooding in the Des Moines, Iowa and Cedar river basins. The flooding has decreased as the excess water moves south into wider river basins, he said.
However, officials in Cedar Rapids were still preparing Sunday for the Cedar River to crest there. According to a news release, crews plugged storm drains in areas near the river to prevent water from backing up into the storm sewer system, which would then flood roads. The city also closed several roads near the river.
According to weather service data, the river will crest in Cedar Rapids late Tuesday at 17.5 feet, Donavon said. He added the crest could cause flooding in the low-lying areas near the river.
According to the release, Cedar Rapids officials say they plan to re-evaluate the river projections Monday and will decide then if any other measures are needed.