A 133-car freight train headed for Wyoming had an unexpected layover in western Iowa last night. Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis says the train was forced to stop near the town of Missouri Valley when a tornado warning was issued for the area, but when the all-clear was given, a startling discovery was made.
The conductor walked back to inspect the cars and noticed "quite a few cars" had derailed. In all, 54 empty coal cars had jumped the tracks. Davis says crews are working to remedy the problem. He expects it will take most of the day to place all of the cars back on the rails. Davis says no one was injured in the incident. He says a repair team with heavy equipment started working early this morning to right the toppled cars.
It’s hoped the railway will be open again by 6 P.M. The train was coming from Illinois. Davis says it’s still not clear if the cars were derailed by a tornado or just very strong winds.