On Dec 13, the residents of Lufkin, Texas woke up to the sounds of strong gales, disconnected power and storm warnings. A local low pressure buildup dumped a lot of debris and rain in the town before moving towards Arkansas. As the storm subsided, people came out of their homes to assess the damage. One of the most severe effects of the storm was the derailing of a big 28-car Burlington Northern-Santa Fe train. It couldn’t stand the sheer force of the storm and de-railed with a few carriages even crashing down from a bridge it was supposedly crossing at that time.
Since it was a cargo or a freight train, there were no casualties reported. A train as big as this giant was toppled and I am sure the truck drivers would have found a wind shelter before it all became too strong. As you can see, the huge train was toppled over from the middle where the freight carriages were more exposed to the wind.
See how cleanly the cabins have been cleaved away from their wheels? Man that must be a tough storm.
Probably the driver wasn’t experienced enough to handle this kind of emergency. He shouldn’t have exposed a part of his train directly to the wind and stopped it in the woods to have some kind of barrier against the strong gust of winds.
More than 64 other vehicles were also toppled over across the city. It will probably take some time to get everything back in order.
