Between Emerson and Red Oak
Emerson to Red Oak
The neighboring towns Emerson and Red Oak, Iowa, are prone to flooding. In the area’s history, the East Nishnabotna River has spilled over into the towns repeatedly, causing significant damage each time. The flood of 1982, however, remains an especially memorable and deadly flood in the towns’ history.
At 3:15 am on June 15, 1982, an Amtrak Train traveling from Chicago to San Francisco derailed in between Emerson and Red Oak. The cause: The East Nishnabotna had once again flooded over, this time spilling over the train tracks. The incident resulted in the death of one woman and severe injuries for an additional 27 passengers. Around 100 individuals suffered from minor injuries.
“We noticed exceptionally high water around town,” said Joe Schwartz, the train’s engineer. “It wasn’t a few miles down the track, we came around a little curve and saw water on the track. I put the train in emergency, but it wasn’t soon enough.”
In an investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board would find that the dispatcher was negligent in allowing the train to continue on the track. The official report also criticizes the train crew for their inadequate response to the rain and the potential for flooding. “Contributing to the accident was the failure of the locomotive crew to recognize and respond adequately to indications of possible unsafe track conditions due to flooding and the failure of other railroad employees, including the dispatcher, to assess weather conditions adequately and take action as prescribed by the rules.”
”The lights went out, and then there was a whole lot of screaming,” said Jason Bridie, a 12-year-old passenger from Clarinda, Iowa. ”We were all thrown out of our seats.” Jason was just one of the 315 people on the Amtrak Train.
Allen Pohran, the assistant administrator at the Montgomery County Hospital in Red Oak, said about 23 injured people were rushed to the hospital and 13 were admitted. Terri N. Thomas, 19 years old, of Santa Maria, California, was dead on arrival at Montgomery County Hospital. Many of the severe injuries were transported to Omaha, Nebraska, for medical treatment.
The rain that caused the flooding started around 7 pm. By 7 am the next morning, more than nine inches of rain had fallen in the area — the river crested at five feet, with an additional foot of mud. Governor Robert Ray declared Emerson and Red Oak a disaster area following the derailment. The train’s crash cost an estimated $3,381,940 between medical care for passengers and damage done to the train cars. In 2018 dollars, the damages would be nearly $9 million.
Sources: Print: “IOWA FLOODS DERAIL AMTRAK TRAIN; WOMAN DEAD AND 16 PEOPLE HURT,” The New York Times, June 1982; “IOWA TOWN, RACKED BY FLOOD, SEEKING AID FROM 23 NATIONS,” The New York Times, November 1982; On-line: Tobin Beck, “An Amtrak Superliner carrying nearly 300 passengers and crew…,” UPI, June 1982; “Derailment of Amtrak Train No. 5 (the San Francisco Zephyr) on the Burlington Northern Railroad,” National Transportation Safety Board, February 1983; “Montgomery County History Mileposts,” Montgomery County History Center, October 1989.