LOS ANGELES -- Heavy rains and flooding in Southern California and in Nevada have washed out key Union Pacific routes serving the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex.

UP spokesman John Bromley said the railroad was not accepting cargo from the ports for the mainline route that runs north of Las Vegas through the nation's midsection to Chicago. Also, service on the route that runs north of Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay area and Pacific Northwest is offering only limited service due to the storms.

The damage on those routes may be repaired by Thursday, but the embargo could continue into the weekend as the railroad clears out its backlog, Bromley said.

In a bulletin to customers on its website, UP stated that intermodal, automotive and manifest shipments from points in the Los Angeles Basin extending north to Santa Barbara and east to Moapa, Nev., north of Las Vegas, were embargoed.

"Washed out tracks, mud and rockslides over the tracks and flooding have closed five of our main routes and damaged signals in the area," the it stated.

However, UP's Sunset route through the Southwest to Texas and the Gulf of Mexico was not affected by the storms, Bromley said.

BY Bill Mongelluzzo