Derailed train cars removed in La Crosse after 100 mph wind gust

lx train 2 — Debris remains on the ground near the railroad tracks Friday afternoon after five K&O empty cars were derailed Wednesday by a 100 mph wind gust. (Photos courtesy Mike McAvoy)

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

LA CROSSE — Railroad crews finished clearing the tracks Friday morning in La Crosse after Wednesday night’s storm and high wind derailed five of 43 empty cars in the downtown area.

“We were lucky the derailment happened where it didn’t have an effect on traffic,” said Rush County Sheriff Ward Corsair.

Corsair said the National Weather Service in Dodge City told him the storm produced constant 80 to 90 mph wind and it was a 100 mph gust that moved the five cars off the K&O (Kansas & Oklahoma) railroad line at about 10:20 p.m. Wednesday.

lx train 3 — A storage building owed by Eslinger Lumber, La Crosse, was severely damaged when two empty railroad cars were blown into it late Wednesday night.

Two of the empty rail cars went into a nearby storage building owned by Eslinger Lumber.

“It was unoccupied, but there is a lot of damage,” Corsair said.

There were no injuries.

The storm was part of a system that moved across much of Kansas on June 11.