Western Railroad Discussion > Brazos River Bridge Still Standing

Not that I expected otherwise after UP's contractors replaced most of the bridge's piers last summer,
UP's Brazos River bridge at Richmond, TX looks no worse for the wear & tear of 4 days of torrential
rains as a result of Hurricane/ Tropical Storm Harvey.

Images captured as the sun makes its re-appearance in the Houston area sky late this afternoon.

Robert Pierce
Sugar Land, TX
SWRails.com

---

---

---

Two more images:

Robert Pierce
Sugar Land, TX
SWRails.com

---

---

Looks like the "Red" River.  Thanks for taking the shots and making the report!

mapboy

Thanks for the update. Looks like your end of town got hit hard again. Hope you are faring well.

The Brazos was originally named the red, or Colorado, river. A Spanish map maker got confused, ever since we have called the two Texas rivers by the wrong names. An idiosyncrasy of Texas history.

Nice photos Robert. It will be interesting to see the escalation of impact as the river drains as it is predicted to rise. During Harvey's visit the Houston area alone received over 431 billion gallons of rain according to the National Weather Service. That figure equates to a volume of water roughly four miles square and two miles high. The estimated volume of rain the storm dumped on Texas counties is in the trillions of gallons equal to the amount of water that passes over Niagara Falls in 15 days according to the NWS. Last night trains were being marshaled outside the Houston Terminal ready to depart west.

Tom Kline
Houston

While I am certain the bridge will survive, I wish to point out the river is forecast to rise an additional three feet from the time the photos were taken yesterday to this Friday morning. The forecast crest will break the previous record stage.

---

As of yesterday, I have seen pictures of the former SP Trinity River bridge at Liberty, TX with the Trinity river up to the bottom of the bridge girders. Since that time the area has received an additional 10 inches of rain, so things may be considerably worse now.

Thanks for the Brazos pictures. Does the railroad intend to park coal cars or ballast cars out there to provide more stability?

Here is the forecast for the Trinity River at Liberty. It shows the river cresting about now. However, it was made around 9am this morning and so it might be a little low due to the additional rains.

---

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the Brazos pictures. Does the railroad
> intend to park coal cars or ballast cars out there
> to provide more stability?

Negative. You might recall that the UP had to rebuild the eastern 2/3 of this bridge last year,
so they seem confident that it will be OK

Robert Pierce
Sugar Land, TX
SWRails.com

I hope they are right not only for the UP but the area in general.  You have to wonder when the engineers redesigned and upgraded the bridge did they factor is a storm with the rainfall produced by Hurricane Harvey?  

Thanks for taking the photos.    If you have updated photos I would like to see them.   My home is near Rice University.   The house did not flood and I have electricity.

Mark
Casselton
Houston, Texas

> Houston area alone received over 431 billion
> gallons of rain according to the National Weather
> Service. That figure equates to a volume of water
> roughly four miles square and two miles high.

32 cubic miles equals 35 trillion gallons.

NY Times built a model of how much impact the Houston area rainfall would have elsewhere in the US. You can dial in your own town, etc. They describe the Houston area 50 trillion gallon rainfall as a cube, 2.5 miles on each side; or one year's flow from Horseshoe Falls of Niagara Falls.

One local reporter here in Stuart Florida described it as Lake Okeechobee, but 165 feet high. It's normally about 12-15 feet high and seventy miles of surface area.


Fake News, or True? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/29/upshot/harvey-rainfall-where-you-live.html

timz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Houston area alone received over 431 billion
> > gallons of rain according to the National
> Weather
> > Service. That figure equates to a volume of
> water
> > roughly four miles square and two miles high.
>
> 32 cubic miles equals 35 trillion gallons.


Thanks, timz. That matches up with what I came up with on the back of my napkin. I am seeing several numbers thrown around for total rainfall volumes, not always clear if they are talking just Houston, southeast Texas, or all rain produced by Harvey, but the totals seem to range in the 15 to 30 trillion gallon range. Whatever the numbers, it is a lot of water. If you have an 1000 square foot house with water 3 feet deep, you have over 20,000 gallons in your house. That is more than half a tank car load. That is not a good day.

timz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Better forward that info to the NWS. Maybe they got the area wrong in the press release.

Tom Kline
Houston

>
> 32 cubic miles equals 35 trillion gallons.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/17 14:09 by cuontv.

That bridge has taken a pounding the last couple years!