Rebuilding the heavily-traveled Norfolk Southern railroad bridge in northern Missouri’s Brunswick is a priority for Governor Mike Parson, who toured the area last week.
The National Weather Service (NWS) Missouri Basin River forecast center says backwater from flood debris caused a rail bridge to collapse in northern Missouri’s Brunswick (October 2, 2019 graphic courtesy of NWS Twitter page)
Parson says crews can’t even get to the area yet.
“We’re still just now now repairing levees from back earlier (this year), but the bridge is going to take a priority,” Parson says. “We’re going to try to get that bridge back up and running.”
The bridge washed out two weeks ago today on October 1, after a debris strike caused by heavy rainfall. Governor Parson tells Missourinet that Brunswick residents can’t catch a break.
“And we’ve been fighting this (flooding) since March 11 and still continue to fight it up there, and we’re just doing everything we can to try to help those people up there, but it’s tough right now,” says Parson.
There were no injuries in the bridge collapse.
Parson says his “heart goes out” to farmers in that area, noting that it’s been a difficult year with massive flooding. He says even when the waters recede, it will be a long way before things get back to normal.
The governor says state officials are doing everything they can to get needed resources to Brunswick, a small farming community between Carrollton and Moberly.
Governor Parson spoke to Missourinet on Friday, after a ceremony at the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) in Jefferson City. The governor reminded a Missourinet reporter that they had spoken about a drought in the Brunswick area, just one year ago.
Meantime, Norfolk Southern has suspended freight train service between Moberly and Kansas City along that route, because of the collapse.
Virginia-based Norfolk Southern operates in 22 states, including Missouri. Their website says they are “a major transporter of industrial products” like chemicals and agriculture.
Click here to listen to Governor Mike Parson speak to Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Brownfield’s Julie Harker after an October 11, 2019 ceremony at the Missouri Department of Agriculture:
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