Flooding in Chicago
Chicago floods have been wreaking a lot of havoc since many days. The National Weather Service has issues another flash flood watch in this week, especially for Friday. There are little streams and creeks that are still overflowing with rains and many parts of the city have reported power loss. The Southwest suburbs have been hit severely with places like Joliet and Plainfield in Will County reporting 5 inches and 4 inches of rain respectively.
The flash flood warning is for places like Will County, Kendall, Southern Kane Counties, Southern DuPage, Southern Cook County, Southern DeKalb, Southern Ogle, northern LaSalle, Northern Grundy until 5.30 pm. Rapid rise has been witnessed in steams along the portions of Blackberry Creak, Hart Ditch, Du Page River and the Little Calumet River.
Though roads have been cleared of flooding as of now, the roads in Will County were flooded in the early afternoon. The Chicago Department of Aviation said that airlines in and out of O’Hare International Airport have been delayed by 2 hours and more than 425 flights have been cancelled due to the rainy weather. However, the good thing about these rains, if one may say so, is that they have been a good break in the two day heat wave that has sweltered the city into near dehydration.
With northeast winds to speed along the length of Lake Michigan into Chicago, the temperatures are predicted to reconcile into the mid 50s along the Lake Michigan shoreline and into the low and mid-60s inland–a reduction of more than 40 degrees in a day. The highs were observed when it reached 95 at O’Hare, only two degrees less of the date’s record, 99 in Kankakee and Pontiac and 97 in Alsip, Lincoln Park, Hickory Hills, Geneva, Downers Grove,
Flossmoor, Hinsdale and Munster.
The National Weather Service estimates a 50 percent possibility of rain for a fair part of the day , with the high in the mid 60s. Northeast winds may blow at 10 to 16 miles per hour, with wind gusts reaching up to 30 miles per hour during the morning hours. Thunderstorms and showers are also expected with temperatures receding o mid 50s; these conditions will last well until Friday with a warning that that the temperature as much as 80s with coolers temperatures by the lake.
The area’s hottest early season since 1933 ended late Wednesday and the highest temperature of 95 fell only two degrees below the record. On Wednesday, ie; June 15 2011, there will be a free public meeting sponsored by y Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, the National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency officials and local television meteorologists where people will get more clarity on how to take safety measures on the face of storms, floods and how people can plan, prepare and coordinate in the face of such an eventuality.
