Monday, August 27, 2007
Finally, cleaned up: We're almost totally recovered from Thursday's storms that rocked the area, so let me try to explain how bad it was. I wish I had a camera with me during the hour and 10 minute drive from the Morton Grove Metra Station to my house, because mere description won't illustrate the magnitude of the damage. Driving up Harms Road and Wagner Road, the destruction was nothing I've seen in person before. I've seen as bad and worse on television, but that's what you see following a hurricane or tornado.
Power lines were down on every street. Mature trees were totally uprooted and blown over. Smashed cars and smashed houses will keep insurance companies busy. The intensity of the storm was one thing, but the area that saw this kind of intensity or worse was beyond anything I've ever seen either. From Kenosha, Wis. south to Kankakee, from DeKalb east to South Bend, this storm didn't seem to spare anyone.
Another thing was the length of time huge swaths of neighborhoods in Glenview and Wilmette were without power. I know of areas in East Wilmette that still have no electricity. Much of Glenview was out until late Saturday. So much for ComEd really giving preference to wealthy neighborhoods.
The other thing is how it could have been much worse. Friday morning, the forecast called for two-to-three inches of rain that evening. Obviously, it didn't happen, and it's awfully good it didn't, because there was no place for that water to go. Deep Tunnel was overwhelmed (as noted below). I was on Milwaukee Avenue at River Road in Mt. Prospect Friday afternoon and saw the river slowly lap onto the street as if it were the edge of the beach.
High school football games were canceled all over the area, from Mishawaka to Antioch to Holland, Mich. I covered the Niles West-Vernon Hills football game Friday, and amazingly, their grass field was dry and in wonderful shape. Kudos to them. (Also, I see that high school with FieldTurf and AstroTurf hosted a ton of other games.)
We really need a dry couple of weeks. If you remember the Flood of 1986 (in late September) or the Flood of 1987 (moved part of the Western Open from Butler National to Oak Park Municipal Golf Course), you know we don't want more rain.
Power lines were down on every street. Mature trees were totally uprooted and blown over. Smashed cars and smashed houses will keep insurance companies busy. The intensity of the storm was one thing, but the area that saw this kind of intensity or worse was beyond anything I've ever seen either. From Kenosha, Wis. south to Kankakee, from DeKalb east to South Bend, this storm didn't seem to spare anyone.
Another thing was the length of time huge swaths of neighborhoods in Glenview and Wilmette were without power. I know of areas in East Wilmette that still have no electricity. Much of Glenview was out until late Saturday. So much for ComEd really giving preference to wealthy neighborhoods.
The other thing is how it could have been much worse. Friday morning, the forecast called for two-to-three inches of rain that evening. Obviously, it didn't happen, and it's awfully good it didn't, because there was no place for that water to go. Deep Tunnel was overwhelmed (as noted below). I was on Milwaukee Avenue at River Road in Mt. Prospect Friday afternoon and saw the river slowly lap onto the street as if it were the edge of the beach.
High school football games were canceled all over the area, from Mishawaka to Antioch to Holland, Mich. I covered the Niles West-Vernon Hills football game Friday, and amazingly, their grass field was dry and in wonderful shape. Kudos to them. (Also, I see that high school with FieldTurf and AstroTurf hosted a ton of other games.)
We really need a dry couple of weeks. If you remember the Flood of 1986 (in late September) or the Flood of 1987 (moved part of the Western Open from Butler National to Oak Park Municipal Golf Course), you know we don't want more rain.
Labels: Chicago, NW Indiana, storms, weather
