Chicago Flooding: Wettest Day Recorded in the History of the City
July 25, 2011
A storm lashed down the city of Chicago, Illinois on Saturday morning. The resultant rainfall of 6.86 inches made July 23 the wettest day in the history of the city since 1871. Heavy down pour was reported in the suburbs of the city, which made this the second-wettest July in city’s history.
The total rainfall for this month in the city reached 8.86 inches after this Saturday’s storm, reported National Weather Service (NWS). The total rainfall figures reached 9.04 inches mark after the rain on Sunday. This is the second wettest July recorded in the city, after 9.56 inches of rainfall reported in 1889. And with one more week to go, this could become the wettest July in the history of Chicago.
Recent storms on Saturday and Sunday triggered a fresh flood warning and caused difficulties for the residents of the suburban areas, including Naperville and Aurora.
Arlana Johnson, the spokeswoman for ComEd, stated that the company had deployed more than 300 workers for restoring power to the consumers who faced power outages on Sunday. She added that most of the complaints were from the south and west suburbs.
Bennie Currie, spokesperson for ComEd, reported in the evening that about 5,000 consumers were still without power. The workers were trying their best to restore power through the evening, but heavy flooding in some parts was making it difficult for them to reach the sites to carryout the repairs.
The warning for the flood for northern Will County and southern Cook County, Kendall and Kane counties was issued until 4 p.m., as per National Weather Services. However, by the late afternoon, the East branch of River DuPage at Bolingbrook was the only region where the warning was in effect, as per NWS. The service also stated that the river was projected to continue rising close to the 20.8-foot mark by evening on Sunday and is expected to drop under the flood level by Tuesday morning.
No major problems were reported within the main city because of the recent storms, as per police and fire personnel of Chicago. However, problems associated with storm, including flooding and fires were reported in Naperville and Aurora.
At about 10 a.m. National Weather Service reported 2 to 3 inches of rainfall this morning over the warning regions, with local rains at 4 to 5 inches. Boulder Hill, Lemont, Little Rock and Orland Park experienced the heaviest rains, according to the weather service.
