A rail line in the Texas Panhandle has reopened after storms packing winds strong enough to form a tornado overturned more than 40 BNSF Railway cars.
BNSF spokesman Joe Faust said Tuesday that nobody was hurt in the derailment between Friona and Summerfield.
Faust says 47 cars that were empty or carrying various freight derailed before dawn Monday. He says 42 cars ended up on their sides. No cargo spilled on the 71-car train traveling from Clovis, N.M., to Amarillo.
The National Weather Service in Lubbock estimates winds gusted up to 100 mph during the derailment. Forecaster John Lipe (lype) says sometimes the outflow from thunderstorms can produce such winds. EF1 tornadoes carry winds from 86 mph to 110 mph.
Fort Worth-based BNSF reopened the line around midnight Monday.
