traveling with hurricanes

[sentinal]

hi all,

my wife is curious as to what happens if we are on the train to florida and a storm heads there around the same time. what would our options be? or what would amtrak's option for us be

 

[AlanB]

Your options would be pretty limited I'm sorry to say. Once a threat is iminent, the local host Railroads will decide at what point they are going to shut down service on their tracks. Amtrak officially gets no say in that discussion, although the host RR's often do consult Amtrak.

And since finding crazy bus drivers who want to drive into a hurricane is extremely difficult, your only option is most likely a refund, unless your plans are extremely flexible.

If the area takes a direct hit, then it can often take several days for power to be restored, trees removed from tracks, and things to return to normal.

 

[sentinal]

thanks alan. that is what i kinda thought

 

[George Harris]

If an area is in the path of a hurricane, unless you live there or have familly or similar reasons to be there, or are a rescue worker of some sort, STAY AWAY. Otherwise you become part of the problem, not part of the solution.

George

 

[AmtrakWPK]

And speaking as someone in the Orlando area that got hit by Charlie Frances and Jean in 2004, you DON'T want to be there before (frantic preparation) during (NOT fun) or afterwards for either the first couple of days if it was only a close call (moderate debris on roads, scattered power outages, no air conditioning, etc., and a few gasoline shortages), or for as much as two months if it goes right through where you wanted to travel. We used to think we were far enough inland to not have to worry about them. Thought that for 35 years. Florida is a wonderful, varied, and beautiful place to visit or live but a hurricane makes it a nice place to temporarily NOT be.

 

[Sheer Luck Holmes]

As a visitor to USA, I don't know the full weather patterns. I am booked to fly in to Houston TX, on 11 August to hit the Amtrak rails for two weeks(happily on a cheap flight!). I have assumed that Houston might be a hurricane affected area, do any of you local guys know if it is in fact a high risk place for bad weather in August?

SLH

 

[Guest]

Houston can be a storm area in August, but as of this point, there is no indication of storms/hurricanes for August. What direction are you planning to head - East or West?

 

[Sheer Luck Holmes]

Good to know there are no storm warnings yet. I plan to catch the 1st. train over to Los Angeles, at the moment I don't have a proper plan, I am trying to be economical with costs on this trip, so am looking at a combination of Amtrak coach seats, occasional sleepers, and some greyhound bus travel and cheap motel/hostel nights. I have travelled over 25,000 miles on Amtrak in the last few years, always in sleeper or staying in a decent hotel between trains...this is one trip where I need to watch the expenses, so I should see another face of USA.

Tootle Pip!

SLH

 

[battalion51]

If you go to The National Hurricane Center they will show any active Tropical system in the Atlantic (your main concern) or Eastern Pacific. If you do run into a system in the Houston area your Airline may be able to reroute you to Dallas or San Antonio to pick up the train. As far as Florida is concerned, if a system is slated to effect South Florida many times they will run Silver Service into Orlando and then run the equipment up to Sanford for layover and servicing. If Central Florida is to be effected they'll either begin cancelling service or reducing back to JAX or Savannah.

 

[sentinal]

basicly my wife thinking was if we are already on the train some where between Washington and tampa and something forms near by, changed direction, or new set of warning are issued for Florida. what would happen

thanks

 

[haolerider]

If the weather changes during your trip, it still is up to the host railroad to make a determination as to what they will allow on their tracks. If they determine that is would not be safe to go to Tampa, then the train would be stopped at some safe location and passengers would be off loaded. It Amtrak decided to run the train back north the next day, you would have to decide if you wanted to return home or change your destination for the duration of the storm. In most cases, alternate transportation to the original destination is not offered since; as someone else has already posted; if there is a serious storm condition, then there won't be any bus transportation available and the authorities would be cautioning everyone to stay out of the affected area. As Bat 51 has suggested, if you are really concerned, then be sure to fully investigate the Hurricane information available from the National Weather Service or other online soureces. These storms rarely just appear out of no where and there is usually plenty of advance information.

 

[Chatter163]

Unlike tornadoes, hurricane/tropical storm situations generally do not change that rapidly. In most cases, you would know (if you follow the news) when you boarded that there was at least a storm in the vicinity.

 

[Guest]

The trains to Florida (or any coastal area served by Amtrak) stop days before expected/predicted landfall. It would be unlikely that anyone would be stuck midt-trip by a hurricane.

 

[George Harris]

Hurricanes are more predicitble than tornadoes, but that is not saying much, as tornadoes are one of the most unpredicitble things going. Atlantic, adn particularly gulf of Mexico hurricanes are know for their ability to strengthen, diminish, stop, change directions, back up, and do all sorts of strange things. The ability to know where one of these thins is going to be when is generally no more than a few days, and sometimes one or a fraction thereof. However, that being said, if you decided ot not travel to Florida simply because it is hurricane season, you have shut out a lot of the year.

george

 

[AmtrakWPK]

And those of us that live here (Orlando area) learn to just keep a watchful eye on the tropical weather on TV and on the internet - that http://www.nhc.noaa.gov National Hurricane Center (NHC) is one that I check daily, and go about the business of living. You do get much more warning about tropical weather than you do with tornados or earthquakes or drenching rains out west that cause landslides or mudslides or even northern-climate winter blizzards, all of which can be trip-stoppers.

So if you're traveling by rail down south in hurricane season, just monitor the news, the NHC and the Amtrak web site, and don't start really worrying unless they are actually forecasting a storm to intercept the route of your train, or really close to it.

 

[Guest]

And remember, hurricanes stop cars, busses and planes, too. So, I'd go ahead and plan it, just be flexible with a backup plan or two.

 

[battalion51]

Many times the host railroad will give Amtrak and its customers a 24 hour heads up as to what their plans are for shut down. En route trains typically will reach their destination and that's it. Now if you are en route and do not feel comfortable with the weather speak with the Conductor, see if it'd be possible to talk with an Agent at the next major stop so that you can turn around and head north. If you are in Florida and weather appears to be imminent, call Amtrak and find out if they will allow you to bump up to the next outbound train.

 

[George Harris]

When you live in areas subject to severe weather or other events, you do learn to factor these things into your plans, but there is no need to fall into paranoia. They are a factor to consider and a reminder to maintain some flexibility, but not a major driver in life. Maybe I feel this way because I grew up in tornado territory, my wife is from the Gulf Coast, and have lived the last 16 years in an area subject to both typhoons and earthquake, and general sub-tropical downpours. No place is perfect except heaven, and there are few people that plan on making that trip on an ASAP basis.

All this hving been said, you do think about potential flooding in choosing a place to live and how will the building and your contents perform in a siesmic event, but you do not move to a different country just because you know these things happen.

George