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May 2023
By Julie Sneider, Senior Associate Editor
Eighteen separate weather events causing at least $1 billion in damage occurred last year in the United States, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information "2022 Billion-dollar Weather and Climate Disasters" report.
That number placed 2022 in a three-way tie with 2017 and 2011 for the third-highest number of natural disasters in a calendar year, trailing only 2020's 22 and 2021's 20, per the "Beyond the Data" blog on Climate.gov.
Last year brought a highly diverse mix of destructive events, including three hurricanes, two wildfires, various floods, two tornado outbreaks and nine severe weather/hail situations. The year also was deadly: The 18 events caused at least 474 fatalities, the eighth-highest number of disaster-related fatalities in the contiguous United States.
The toll of damages from those disasters totaled $165 billion, with Category 4 Hurricane Ian the costliest weather event at $112.9 billion in damage, the blog reported.
Among railroads that faced the worst weather-related damage in 2022 was the Seminole Gulf Railway (SGLR), a southwest Florida short line. SGLR’s operations were effectively shut down when Ian tore through the region in late September 2022 and the railroad has continued to rebuild since. Infrastructure and equipment that was damaged or destroyed included six rail bridges, 7,000 feet of track, a locomotive barn, storage trailers, motive power and heavy machinery.
With so much destruction to rail infrastructure of late, rail industry contractors have been busy providing emergency recovery and repair services. Recently, five such companies spoke with Progressive Railroading or provided information via email as to how they’re helping railroads recover from weather- or climate-related disasters.
Founded in 1976, B&P Enterprises provides emergency deployment services such as track maintenance and construction when railroads are impacted by washouts, hurricanes and other natural disasters, company officials said in an email.
For example, when the Category-4 Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana in summer 2021, B&P was called to repair a 20-mile stretch of washed-out track along the Gulf Coast. The company's team of 125 employees used 33 excavators, eight front-end loaders, four dozers, over 200 dump trucks and 20 airboats to work around the clock to restore the track.
With power out in the region, the company organized a "village" of subcontractors, employees and local vendors to provide lodging and meals. B&P contracted fuel vendors to ensure fuel was available in remote areas. Despite all the challenges, the company was able to complete the job in 10 days, B&P officials said.
"From start to finish, we utilized over 10,000 man-hours using personnel from seven different locations to tackle the job," they said. "With assistance from several dump truck subcontractors, rock supply required around-the-clock organization."
For ClearWay Industries LLC owner Percy Caraballo, the past four years have been the worst in terms of the number and intensity of natural disasters impacting his rail customers' operations. As a result, ClearWay's disaster tree removal and emergency tree response services for railroad rights of way have been in high demand.
In the first decade after starting the business in 1989 "with a pickup truck and chain saw," Caraballo responded to a lot of tree damage caused by rain and/or high-wind storms.
"I worked a lot of storms then, but we weren't experiencing atmospheric issues like we're seeing today," he says. "The weather has changed, but the climate also has changed and [natural disasters] are happening more frequently."
The company serves railroads in need of emergency disaster response along the East Coast, from the Tri-State area to Florida. With more frequent natural disasters occurring, Caraballo advises railroads to remove diseased or vulnerable trees and limbs as part of routine vegetation management. Doing so helps reduce the likelihood of such vegetation falling onto track during storms or catching fire in high heat and drought, he says.
ClearWay employs experienced crews with specialized hi-rail equipment to handle routine maintenance as well as provide emergency response services, Caraballo says.
EnviroServe specializes in emergency response, environmental remediation and waste management services. When natural disasters or flooding events impact companies with rail operations, the company "aims to return conditions to the way they were, or in many cases, better than before the event occurred," said Scott Denson, national account manager-rail, in an email.
In one recent event, a rail yard was hit with an historic flood that impacted its environmental operations. The oil-water separator was flooded, which impaired the yard's stormwater conveyance system.
EnviroServe responded by containing any impacted water, bringing the oil-water separator back online and jetting the lines that impaired the flow for the stormwater system, Denson said.
"Additional tasks included fuel tank containment inspection and pump-out, equipment and building decontamination and wet product recovery and disposal," he added.
Hulcher Services Inc. recently assisted railroad customers in California and Washington to repair extensive damage caused by historic rain and snowfall that occurred from December 2022 through March 2023, company officials said.
Hulcher has helped its rail customers overcome the impact of hurricanes, floods and tornadoes since 1964. The company's storm/disaster response services include track restoration and replacement; panel installation; rock and debris hauling and removal; traction motor and wheel changes; vacuum truck services; site demolition, remediation and restoration; and mobile command center and food truck.
With 28 locations and more than 300 pieces of heavy equipment, Hulcher can deploy emergency and storm response teams and equipment within an hour of a call to its national call center, company officials said.
"We stage personnel and equipment near the expected impact zone to respond more quickly once it is safe to do so," they added.
It’s an all-hands-on-deck effort when an event is declared following a natural disaster, according to Nick Edelen, vice president of operations at R. J. Corman Railroad Services. Operations, finance, payroll, commercial development and safety all play a critical role in the success of a customer's recovery following an event, he said.
"Our capabilities following an event include complete track reconstruction, debris removal, armoring and track surfacing," Edelen said. "Additionally, we can set up temporary base camp infrastructure for our railroad customers."
R. J. Corman's equipment inventory includes hi-rail excavators, rotary dumps, grapple trucks, loaders, bulldozers, dump trucks, tampers and regulators.
"We also have the ability to deploy and maintain generators at signalized crossings to ensure the continuity of safely moving freight during power outages," said Edelen.
When Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana in August 2021, a number of Class Is’ operations were affected. To help get those railroads up and running, R. J. Corman mobilized 100 employees and more than 60 pieces of heavy and specialized equipment to several sites.
After clearing debris and armoring right of way, the company deployed multiple tie and surfacing crews to restore the tracks to Class I standards, Edelen said.
In addition, generator deployment teams kept signalized grade crossings active by replacing multiple signal houses and flashing components damaged during the storm.
"With our generators, we were even able to power a hotel for one of our customers to ensure their employees had working capabilities until power was fully restored," Edelen said.
Email comments or questions to julie.sneider@tradepress.com.
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