With more than 10 inches of rain as Tropical Storm Imelda stalled Wednesday over the Beaumont area, Union Pacific officials predicted shipping delays of 48 to 72 hours and issued freight embargoes for the Beaumont and Galveston areas.
Crews were restricted in attempts to reach flooded areas due to road closures, UP officials say.
Kansas City Southern officials say they are monitoring the situation but have no estimate of when operations on the Beaumont Subdivision from Beaumont to south of Houston will resume.
As of Thursday, the force of the storm diminished, although flood emergencies remained in effect for portions of southeastern Texas and flash flood watches were in effect for parts of Eastern Texas and Western Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service.
Meanwhile, Amtrak’s ‘Sunset Limited’ was truncated to San Antonio due to flooding. Since flooding along the Sunset Route was east of Downtown Houston, the train could have been truncated to Houston, instead, although the entire city had a deluge of rain.