There may be problems with the floods, but the problem with Amtrak is the system.

Just yesterday I was checking routes and schedules for LA to St. Louis.

This trip requires 1 or 2 changes of train, and take about 36 to 50 hours, including layovers of 4 -7 hours per change. For the two of us the total cost would be about $1000 each way for a roomette (which includes meals). The pricing policy is the fare for a seat--which you won't be using--plus way extra for the room.

Now as train stations are generally not in the best part of a city, those layovers can be pretty brutal, being a prisoner of the station as it were.

I refuse, at least for now, to put up with the indignities and inconveniences of flying, so it looks like St. Louis may be off the agenda.