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Amtrak suspends Missouri River Runner service to accommodate diverted rail traffic amid flooding

Posted at 10:37 AM, Mar 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-05 14:11:29-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Passenger rail traffic along a popular Missouri route has been suspended and evacuations continue amid flooding along the Missouri River.

Amtrak said Tuesday that it was temporarily halting its Missouri River Runner Service between Kansas City and St. Louis. The company says that because of the flooding, freight traffic has been diverted to tracks Amtrak uses. Buses will transport passengers instead.

In northwest Missouri, two more levees were breached Tuesday and the 220 residents of the town of Craig were ordered to evacuate. Local officials say water also is lapping at the edge of the tiny town of Fortescue, where residents used excavators to create a makeshift levee.

The floodwaters have damaged hundreds of homes and been blamed for three deaths in the Midwest. The flooding has also taken a heavy toll on agriculture, inundating thousands of acres, threatening stockpiled grain and killing livestock.