Great Lakes - Anyone get stuck in the big storm today

Went for a short bike ride today and was on my way home when I noticed all of the sudden the sun vanished as some nasty clouds moved in and the wind really picked up. I arrived home 15 minutes before wave one hit. Glad I had the day off today or I'd be commuting 20 miles in it (though I'd probably just jump on the train). Anyone get caught in it?

I just shut the generator down. We were in a staff meeting when I heard the tornado sirens go off in North Aurora. We checked the weather warnings and moved all of our operators into the locker room for safety.

It got pretty nasty.

Was stuck on Randall the whole way back to the 'gin. Daycare was without power, Medical center where my wife works was without power, and my house was without power. :(

I just hope no one was hurt.

I was riding home on my fixed gear. I got home fine with a pretty good story.

Went for a short bike ride today and was on my way home when I noticed all of the sudden the sun vanished as some nasty clouds moved in and the wind really picked up. I arrived home 15 minutes before wave one hit. Glad I had the day off today or I'd be commuting 20 miles in it (though I'd probably just jump on the train). Anyone get caught in it?


I had just got home from 20 miles and changed clothes to go get a slurpee at 7-11 ( I am addicted to the Crystal Light slurpees after hot rides) By the time I walked out of the store the sky was black. It sure came up quick. It didn't even look that threatening when I left my house and I'm only 6-7 mins from the 7-11.

I was thinking that if one had been out on his bike it would have been hard to find shelter that fast especially over at Fermi where I ride a lot.

Daughter was an hour late coming home from school as they locked down her middle school because there was a tornado in Batavia. Now, she had some good stories!

The tornado siren went off in Lisle where I work, so we all figured out that we should go into the restrooms as the safest place to be. Then some idiot in the building decides to pull the FIRE ALARM!

So we're faced with... go out the fire exit where we can see water pouring under the door, or stay inside listening to the screeching of the fire alarm. We took our chances inside. Thankfully the alarm in the restroom was not too loud, so it was bearable for the 15 minutes we were in there.

The drive home was an adventure. 59 in Warrenville was a parking lot, so I swung back south to Butterfield to head toward N Aurora. The roads were drying. The sky to the north was scary looking, so like an idiot, I decided to go that way up Kirk Road. Big mistake. Torential rain started right as I was going to go left on Faybian all the way to Randall. Whatever, I can go slow. I make it across the river, start heading up to Randall and the road is blocked by emergency crews. So I follow traffic which winds me through some apartment complex and eventually back to 31. Alright. I'll take 31 north. Some standing water in spots, but it's all good until just past downtown St. Charles. Again, I have to divert and follow traffic through a neighborhood. Luckily, it got me to Randall Road so I could get home. A few more dead traffic signals and two hours later, I'm home from work.

Thankfully, no storm damage at home. Hopefully, no storm damage later on today.

This weather pattern is getting old.

at 3pm i could see the havoc rolling in from the west. it was ugly looking. i choose this time to get my butt out of there and head home. i wanted to avoid the "parking lot" effect the storm would leave in its wake.

an hour later i was home (20 mile trip). after making dinner i actually ran 4 miles in between the the fronts.

i dont mind some rain, but an entire week of thunderstorms is a bit much. its driving me made i say :). later.

I bike-train-bike commute most days. No exception yesterday. I left work thinking I had enough time to get to the train station before the storm hit. No dice. I got hammered by the wind/rain and had to pull off and huddle up against some scrubby forest preserve trees to get some shelter from the wind. I couldn't have been any wetter.

Once the wind died down, I took off again. My biggest fear at that point was accidently rolling over some downed power line.

I waited for the first wave to pass and then commuted home at about 5:30 before the second wave hit.

The SKS race blade fenders that I just picked up on Tuesday came in very handy and worked really well. Streets were still moderately wet, but my light colored pants and shirt were free of spray when I arrived home. Very impressed, as I had somewhat low expectations compared to full coverage, fixed fenders.

Call me an idiot, but I rode into work this morning as well. Not looking good for the ride home.

Call me an idiot, but I rode into work this morning as well.

Me too. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson from yesterday, but riding in a tornado is better than sitting in my car on I-90. :D

Me too. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson from yesterday, but riding in a tornado is better than sitting in my car on I-90. :D

Well, it's 5:00 on the nose and the sun is shining. The gamble paid off.

Have a good weekend everybody.

More storm story fun...

Our sump kept going off and just bubbling out of the pipe by the house. Long story short, the sump pump drainage pipe under our backyard was broken about 25 feet out from the house. Filled with dirt and rock, no water was getting out to the end of the pipe.

A neighbor of ours who does this kind of thing for a living came over and helped diagnose the problem with a pipe camera, then tried to route out the blockage, then proceeded to help dig a trench to find the pipe was screwed and needed to be replaced. This was into the night on Friday and then we completed the job this morning. About a 7 foot section of pipe repaired and replaced. Water's flowing smooth now.

I learned a lot, but most valuable was that it's insanely cool to have a helpful neighbor who knows how to do plumbing and drainage installation/repair. He earned himself a nice bottle of tequila for his efforts.

I posted that already in the road bike forum to announce a perfectly straight time trial course, but here again are the pictures from my area where I live:
http://gallery.geekazoids.net/v/weather/flood2007/

The most surreal part is the highway being completely empty heading east.