At Least It Wasn't Snow

By Shannon in News on Nov 11, 2006 9:06PM

How 'bout that weather last night, people? Wet and/or windy enough for ya? We lost track of how many times our umbrella caved out on us, only to cave back in on the next unholy blast of wind. In situations like that, we find the appropriate music to be somewhat helpful. Good stuff.

Naturally O'Hare and Midway had major backups and many canceled flights. Oddly enough, no CTA trains took the opportunity to be delayed (no more than usual, anyway) during the storm. The Metra was a different story: Lightning strikes took out the signaling system for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line, which goes from Union Station downtown out to Aurora. More than 20 trains were stuck on the rails between the two destinations when the signals went down. Workers were brought in to switch the trains manually. Chicagoist has enough trouble trying to add pocket change without a calculator; we can't imagine having to revert to a manual system like that on the spur of the moment. Delays ranged from 15 minutes to several hours.

City trains may have been OK, but buses weren't spared the torrential downpour and resulting slick streets. A CTA bus driver was killed on the Northwest Side when he tried to avoid a puddle underneath a viaduct at Milwaukee & Kilbourn. He ended up slamming into the center median instead, killing himself and wounding two passengers. We hope the remaining passengers got to where they needed to go. Witnessing a death and ending up stranded in a vicious storm does not make for the best night out.

"< ka-boom >" courtesy of mattsabo17.