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To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, it's morning in Chicago, but not for long. The storms that wreaked havoc throughout the area are a faint memory, and we're left to clean up the mess as we wait for more storms to come today. The north and northwest sides of the city felt the brunt of the storm, with reports of trees being split by the high winds. Over 300,000 businesses and residents were left without electricity as power lines snapped.
As if that wasn't enough, the storms caused the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to open the locks to the North Shore Channel in Wilmette, allowing millions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewage to be dumped into Lake Michigan. It's the first time the locks have been opened because of flood waters in five years. So don't expect to go for a dip in the lake this weekend.
Yesterday's storms turned the evening rush into a test of wills. Folks waiting for the northbound train at the Clark/Lake Blue Line, already running single track in spots, last night were kept abreast with travel updates by CTA employees. Delays on Metra were even worse, with reports of debris on tracks, broken gates, and downed power lines on two of the lines. Flights at O'Hare and Midway were delayed as reports of tornadoes forced the evacuation of Elgin's regional air control center and O'Hare's control tower.
If National Weather Service forecasts hold up, some roads in Lake County will be under water but he time its over. That's to say nothing of the homeowners throughout the city who have had to bail out their basements all night.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Cagle.
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by some act of god the metra train i picked up at halsted at 5:20 yesterday was exactly on time. probably the only one in the whole system that was.
With all the power outages and the mess from the trees, I am glad that I bought a generator at
www.ElectricGenertatorsDirect.com earlier this year.
Remember, if you are using a portable generator, be safe. They emit carbon monoxide, which is odorless and deadly.
Always run it outside and vent the exhaust away from the house.
Be safe.
A pre-emptive post before some corporate lackey compares dumping sewage into the lake to the BP uproar: BP was going to be dumping every single day, while the sewer overflows once every couple of years. And, raw sewage decays into non-harmful compounds given enough oxygen, water and time, whereas lead and mercury do not.
Gotta say, I was impressed with CTA last night. I planned a route on-the-fly to get home from work with maximum dryness in mind and only one bus had a minor delay...everything else was running on time! Or should I say wading on time? Any chance we could get some hovercraft in this next budget?
Sorry, I thought this was a post on the Nelson twins.