Flood Gate Closure & Interchange Update Regarding Hurricane Marco & Tropical Storm Laura

Announcement Number: CN2020-39
Categories: General Announcements
Posted Date: August 23, 2020

To Our Customers,
 
We continue to monitor the weather systems in the Gulf of Mexico. Marco has been upgraded to a hurricane and the current trajectory shows it making landfall over Louisiana, Monday morning. Tropical Storm Laura is currently expected to make landfall Wednesday.
 
In preparation for landfall, the city of New Orleans is closing the flood gates today, August 23. The gate closures effectively prevents interchange with the eastern carriers until further notice. Interchange traffic will cease this evening. Additionally, Union Pacific's Avondale, Louisiana intermodal terminal will be closed effective immediately until further notice. This closure applies to inbound and outbound intermodal gate activity.
 
Our ability to operate trains in the area will be dependent upon the strength of the storms and the impact they have to our network.
 
We have made preparations along our network to ensure any potential outages are addressed and repaired as quickly as possible. The following actions have been taken:
  • Generators are staged at strategic locations
  • Ballast trains are being sent to the area, ballast stockpiles are in place at strategic locations
  • Fueling stations are also being added to supplement current fuel supplies
  • Additional crews and other supporting personnel are on standby
Customers should familiarize themselves with our Hurricane Planning and Recovery plan. The web page covers best practices to follow during the hurricane season.
 
We will be providing ongoing updates as these weather systems progress. If you have any questions, please contact Customer Care & Support at 800-272-8777 or your Union Pacific representative.