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Flooding Forces Amtrak To Suspend Service Between Fort Worth, St. Louis

Associated Press
Amtrak says flooding is forcing it to suspend service between St. Louis and Fort Worth, Texas, until June 7.

Amtrak says flooding is forcing it to suspend service between St. Louis and Fort Worth until June 7.

Amtrak officials said in a news release Friday that flooding has diverted freight train traffic onto tracks used by the passenger train service.

Service between Chicago and St. Louis and between San Antonio and Fort Worth will continue as usual.

No substitute transportation is available other than the scheduled Trinity Railway Express commuter train service between Fort Worth and Dallas, which is ticketed separately.

Some tickets are available for those willing to travel alternate routes between Illinois or Missouri and Texas using the Amtrak Southwest Chief and the Amtrak Heartland Flyer.

President Donald Trump has declared an emergency in Arkansas, which has been hit by historic flooding.

A levee breached Friday along the Arkansas River, prompting a flash flood warning and evacuation of a rural area in western Arkansas.

Officials said the levee breached at Dardanelle, about 60 miles northwest of Little Rock. Yell County officials had anticipated the breach and urged residents in the nearby Holla Bend area to evacuate Thursday.

The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management said crews went door to door to recommend evacuation for about 160 homes.

Yell County Emergency Manager Jeff Gilkey told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that rapid currents from the river ripped a 40-foot section from the levee. Aerial video posted by the sheriff's office Friday showed water pouring through the hole.

"There was nothing we could do to stop it," Gilkey said.