Ms. Theroux called “I started to worry I might run out of gas and be frozen,” Ms. Theroux, 23, recalled on Wednesday in a tired, strained voice. In his 31 years of working for the city, Mr. Orozco said, “I haven’t experienced anything like Lake Shore Drive last night.”City officials warned Tuesday that snow would begin falling by midafternoon and that conditions would become treacherous into the night, particularly along lakefront roads where the winds were expected to whip Lake Michigan’s waves into ocean-grade breakers. After more than five hours, about a dozen passengers decided to flee on their own. But here I was, right here, and I felt the same way completely isolated.”Chicago, a city that prides itself on its ability to conquer any snowstorm that comes its way, woke up Wednesday to discover that hundreds of people had been trapped for hours scared and confused, in part because of the vague advice they heard from emergency workers along a prominent roadway that runs smack through the heart of the city.Among the scenes described by those who spent most or all of the harrowing night on Lake Shore Drive: Frustrated drivers trying to unclog the roads by pushing stuck and abandoned cars through snow-filled exit ramps; a band of passengers crowded inside one As abandoned vehicles still sat in drifts along Lake Shore Drive on Wednesday morning, city officials said that the hundreds of people involved had been safely rescued, and that they did not know of anyone who had been seriously injured from being trapped in their cars for hours.To those who were “very inconvenienced,” Raymond Orozco, chief of staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley, issued an apology, but would not single out anything in particular that the city might have done differently.
Drivers along Lake Shore Drive found themselves trapped by a blizzard, 70-mile-an-hour gusts of wind and blocked exit ramps.
Northern Illinois and northwest Indiana were walloped by one of the most powerful winter storms in history between January 31 and February 2, 2011.
Then, as evening arrived, five accidents shut down the thoroughfare one sent a bus spinning across three lanes. The storm was powerful enough to generate vigorous updrafts, resulting in lightning, thunder, and small hail. Light lake effect snow showers developed on Tuesday morning over far northeast Illinois. Mr. Burrell and others were quickly spotted by emergency officials and told to return to the bus (they did), while others, pushed on by adrenaline and frustration, struggled through giant drifts and were carried to safety by officials who came upon them.
(Lake Shore Drive was reopened just before 6 a.m. central time on Thursday, the Chicago police said.
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend Bookmark this thread: This topic is archived. A few, in desperation, climbed out of their cars and tried to brainstorm with stranded strangers what they should do. Please select one of the following:On the evening of Monday, January 31st, the initial period of light snow developed due to an upper level disturbance and warm air advection aloft, and it continued into the overnight hours. No serious injuries were reported.Hundreds of abandoned vehicles were strewn along the northbound lanes of Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive on Wednesday.Snow accumulated Wednesday in a bus stranded along Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.
CHICAGO When Jenny Theroux plotted her commute home Tuesday afternoon, she was certain she would arrive well before the full force of the blizzard hit. http://ahshirts.com Sorry, the location you searched for was not found. For the final leg of her trip, she turned onto Lake Shore Drive, this city’s wide and busy thoroughfare along Lake Michigan, at 4 p.m. Before the city shut down the Drive, traffic had been crawling; it took upwards of an hour to travel only a mile. Some people were stranded for more than 12 hours. AP/The Huffington Post .