Saturday's Rainfall Broke Records, Making It The Wettest Day Since 2011

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Oct 16, 2017 7:30PM

Saturday's epic deluge flooded the Riverwalk and created a mess of many streets around Chicago, bringing over 4 inches of rain to O'Hare International Airport and making Saturday the wettest Chicago day since July 23, 2011. (That summer day saw 6.68 inches of rain, according to the Sun-Times.)

The city released a statement on the rainfall, noting that the Riverwalk, which opened last year, was equipped to deal with flooding and would be properly cleaned after the rain:

“While these events are rare, the Riverwalk was designed to withstand flood conditions during significant rain events and Fleet and Facility Management crews are working on the clean up efforts now,” a city spokesperson said. “Examples of this design include the floating gardens of the Jetty which rise and fall with the river level and landscaping in the Cove that can withstand submerged conditions for long periods of time.”

Portions of the Riverwalk were still closed by Monday afternoon due to the flooding and the dirt, debris and trash that got caught up in the water, according to the Sun-Times, which has photos of the closed Riverwalk.