National Weather Service Missouri River Basin River forecast center Archives

(Program director Brad Boyer at Missourinet Moberly affiliate KWIX contributed to this story)

Authorities in northern Missouri’s Brunswick have set up barricades to keep boaters away, after rising floodwaters caused the heavily-traveled Norfolk Southern railroad bridge over the Grand River to collapse.

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)

The incident happened Tuesday evening. Brunswick emergency management director Brent Dickerson spoke to our Moberly affiliate KWIX (AM 1230).

“Just before dark, the railroad bridge west of Brunswick, the Norfolk Southern rail line, their main line, the bridge has washed out,” Dickerson says.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Missouri Basin River forecast center tweeted Wednesday that backwater from debris caused the Brunswick gauge to rise. The logjam collapsed the train tracks. The NWS Missouri Basin River forecast center also says there’s been a significant drop in backwater at the upstream gauge.

While there were no injuries, Brunswick marine access has been closed for safety reasons. Norfolk Southern crews are working with Chariton County officials to to keep boaters away. Dickerson tells KWIX the barricades are there to protect people.

“So let the railroad have their barrier to work with, whatever they need to do,” says Dickerson. “And for safety reasons is the main thing, because we don’t know where the bridge went. We do know it went down, most of the middle sections did go down to the south. We don’t know if it’s there sticking up or whatever.”

The location is just west of Brunswick, which is between Carrollton and Moberly.

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.

Missourinet has left a phone message at Norfolk Southern headquarters seeking additional information. We’ll update this story, when we get a response.