(Iowa News Service) – Representatives from Union Pacific Railroad will be at a town hall meeting in Council Bluffs tomorrow night to hear about the so-called ‘triangle of death’ being created by some of its train tracks. The chronically blocked tracks are frustrating to residents, but also potentially deadly. Council Bluffs used to be home to eight rail companies. They’ve consolidated to four, but there are still 48 crossings in town, and people in about 50 homes are trapped by tracks on two sides. Resident Andrew Whitehill says he sees drivers every day create dangerous situations in a residential area where children are playing.

It’s more of an issue now because as rail carriers have consolidated, the trains making cross-country trips are longer, stretching well beyond the railyard and onto tracks in the city, blocking crossings. The town hall is scheduled for 6:30 tomorrow night in the police department building. U-P has said it is committed to a fix.

Freight train at crossing gate

Mayor Matt Walsh says Union Pacific representatives expressed surprise over the blocked tracks when he met with them, but says the company is willing to make changes, including by installing new technology.

While that fix can keep people from getting into the triangle in the first place, it’s doesn’t do anything to help those who are already there. Union Pacific has told the mayor the company will schedule trains differently to avoid having both sets of tracks occupied at once, and that a new yard master will make sure it happens.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – June 24, 2024 – If you travel on northbound Interstate 29 near Sloan you need to be aware of a short-term closure/detour of northbound I-29 from 6 p.m. tonight until midnight, weather permitting, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s District 3 Office.

This scheduled closure of northbound I-29 will allow crews to safely place girders for the new bridge over I-29. The first closure at this location took place on Monday night, June 17, and tonight’s closure is the last of two closures needed to place girders.

As you approach the work zone you will be safely routed around the construction work using the ramps at the I-29/Iowa 141 interchange (exit 127) in Sloan.

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

(Radio Iowa) – The Big Sioux River crested in Sioux City this (Monday) morning at 45 feet. City Fire Marshal Mark Aesoph says that’s over seven feet higher than the previous record. “It’s just been difficult to predict what’s going to happen when levels are this high when we have no history with it,” he says. A temporary levee was built to protect a Sioux City neighborhood, but Aesoph says water has gone over another levee just to the east, which was not expected.

“The elevation at this area was apparently lower than anticipated and recorded for our planning purposes,” he says, “and what that did was it allowed water inside the levee area in Riverside.” Water has come up through storm drains in low areas of Sioux City’s Riverside neighborhood and a mandatory evacuation was issued for some areas. Aesoph says crews started going door to door this (Monday) morning to notify residents.

Officials expects evacuations in Sioux City’s Riverside neighborhood to expand

“We do anticipate that the evacuation area will continue to grow as water continues to rise within the levee,” Aesoph says. “The city has deployed many pumps through the area, but unfortunately we just can’t keep up with a river that is flowing at that pace with that much water.”

The Tyson Events Center is open as an emergency shelter and buses are available for residents who are evacuating.

(Radio Iowa) – Nearly 400 people had to be rescued as flood waters rushed into Spencer this weekend and one person has been reported missing. Spencer Fire Chief Jesse Coulson says his department launched two rescue teams — one on the north side of the river that cuts through the city and one on the south side of Spencer, then volunteers with boats joined the effort to rescue 383 people. “We had two rescued by the Air National Guard off of a vehicle top out of the river,” Coulson says. The driver of a submerged vehicle in Spencer has not been found.

“Otherwise, every rescue and all our searching that has been reported to us has been accounted for,” he says. An engineer who’s a frequent consultant for the City of Spencer estimates the rest on the Little Sioux River topped 22 feet. The previous high water mark was two feet lower — from a 1953 flood. Hundreds of Spencer homes have flood damage. About 400 Spencer residents sought refuge in shelters this weekend.

The Sioux County Sheriff released drone footage of Hawarden, Iowa, on Saturday.

(Radio Iowa) – Counties downstream of the flooding in northwest Iowa are preparing for all that water to flow south. Webster County Emergency Management director, Dylan Hagen, says volunteers Sunday putting up sandbags along the Des Moines River. “We do still have sandbagging operations happening in Lehigh, Otho and Willa Ridge. We have sand and bags available for anybody that needs them,” Hagen says. “The city of Fort Dodge is currently working on, I believe three different sandbagging locations.” Hagen says the water flowing down could turn into a dangerous situation for those residents along the Des Moines River.

“It’ll be the third highest if it follows the forecasted model, so definitely something that is concerning to us and it is a dangerous situation and we just asked it people stay away from flooded areas and rivers,” he says. Hamilton County Emergency Management coordinator Tim Zahn says they’re shouldn’t have any major concerns. “There’s a small section near Stratford along the Des Moines River that is expected to crest at about 25 feet. That isn’t a major flood level. But it may affect the roads in that area a little bit,” he says.

(Radio Iowa) – The Army Corps of Engineers has deployed four surveillance teams to check levies along the Missouri River, but the Corps is predicting minor to moderate flooding along the Missouri below Sioux City. John Remus is the Army Corps of Engineers chief of water management for the Missouri River basin. “As long as the levies hold, we are not expecting any major impacts. There will be some interior drainage issues,” Remus says. “There are some communities that do not have levies. We have not heard from them.” The Missouri River in the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro is expected to crest sometime Wednesday night or Thursday morning. The crest as the river exits Iowa near Nebraska City is expected to occur on Thursday night.

Kevin Lowe is a National Weather Service hydrologist who coordinates Missouri River forecasts. “We do expect flooding to happen along almost the entire Missouri River main-stem,” Lowe says. If forecasted river levels hold, officials say it’s likely levies along the river will work as designed. Spencer Giles is the emergency management chief for the Omaha district of the Army Corps of Engineers. He says the Corps provided technical assistance to officials in Dickinson and Buena Vista Counties this weekend and are ready to provide supplies where needed. “We maintain an inventory of various flood fighting materials and equipment positioned throughout the district,” he says.

In Dickinson County, the water level in Big Spirit Lake is more than a foot above its normal high water mark and Highway 9 between Lake Park and Spirit Lake remains closed due to flooding.

DES MOINES – Gov. Kim Reynolds has issued a disaster proclamation for Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, and Pottawattamie Counties in response to the impending flooding in Western Iowa.  The governor’s proclamation allows state resources to be utilized to prepare for, respond to, and recover from the effects of severe weather and temporarily suspends provisions or allows for the following during the duration of the proclamation:

• Temporarily suspends the regulatory provisions of Iowa Admin. Code 11-53.11(3) prohibiting pay to those State of Iowa employees for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per workweek while present in the State’s Emergency Operations Center or otherwise engaged in assigned disaster response missions or other activities.
• Temporarily suspends the regulatory provisions of Iowa Code Chapter 8A, Iowa Code § 313.10, Iowa Admin. Code chapters 11-117, 11-118 requiring the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the Iowa Department of Transportation, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and other state agencies involved in the response to this disaster emergency to procure goods and services through a competitive selection process.
• Temporarily suspends the regulatory provisions of Iowa Code § 321.449 pertaining to hours of service for disaster repair crews and drivers delivering goods and services while responding to disaster sites during the duration of this disaster, subject to conditions listed in Iowa Code § 321.449.
• Temporarily suspends regulatory provisions of the Iowa Code that pertain to procurement of goods and services, hours of service for disaster repair crews, and various requirements for the transportation of loads related to disaster repairs.
• Allows vehicles transporting corn, soybeans, hay, straw, silage, stover, fertilizer (dry, liquid, and gas), and manure (dry and liquid) to be overweight (not exceeding 90,000 pounds gross weight) without a permit for the duration of this proclamation.  This proclamation applies to loads transported on all highways within Iowa (excluding the interstate system) and those which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight, do not exceed the maximum axle weight limit determined under the non-primary highway maximum gross weight table in Iowa Code § 321.463 (6) (a) and (b), by more than 12.5 percent, do not exceed the legal maximum axle weight limit of 20,000 pounds, and comply with posted limits on roads and bridges.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office says two people were arrested on OWI charges over the weekend, and one person was arrested on a warrant. 47-year-old James Lee Wendt, of Omaha, was arrested at around 12:15-p.m. Saturday, on a warrant for Failure To Appear on Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd offense, charge. His bond was set at $5,000.

At around 11-p.m., Saturday, Mills County Deputies arrested 42-year-old Gabrial Ramirez, of Omaha, for OWI/1st offense. Bond was set at $1,000. And, at around 12:25-a.m. Sunday, 25-year-old Jyden Paul Beaverson, of Malvern, was arrested in Mills County for OWI/2nd offense. His bond was set at $2,000.