Freeman Wachholder
Mrs. Scarbrough/Mr. Hunter
Social Studies/Language Arts
16 December 2016
The Chicago Flood of 1992 April thirteenth, 1992. Busy, just like any other day in the Loop. But a series of highly unlikely mishaps would cause billions in damage that day. The events can be traced all the way back to 1899, when the Illinois Telephone and Telegraph company had permission to build tunnels for cables from city hall, but instead built seven-foot-wide railroad tunnels. These tunnels were used to remove coal ash and other trash from Loop buildings, providing a great advantage over the crowded streets, traffic being much worse than even today. Eventually the tunnels lost their advantage to modern technology and were finally abandoned in …show more content…
In spite of this, the flood could have been avoided by the official in charge of supervising the replacing of pilings failed to show up, supposedly unable to find parking. though he approved it anyway. This was a fatal issue, because the pilings being even just that far away from their original position penetrated the decaying tunnels below. If the piling inspector had done his job correctly, the flood would not have happened. On a more general note, the tunnels did not receive any maintenance whatsoever. A simple petition could have stopped this, but the fact most likely went unseen by many Chicago residents. It is unknown if any plans were made for the tunnels at that time, but sooner or later, they would collapse. There is currently a plan in place to repair the tunnel system, though it is projected to cost seven billion. “Anything manmade needs maintenance or it will deteriorate over time.” Bruce Moffat says, regarding the shape the tunnels are in. Another channel through which the flood could have been stopped is the issue of James Mctigue and his boss, General Services Commissioner Ben Reyes.The mayor deemed Reyes innocent of indirectly or directly causing the flood, even though he learned of the leaking in mid-march, told by Mctigue´s supervisor, Syed Ahmad (though he did not receive punishment either). Mctigue investigated the leak site, tipped off by a television crew that found the leak. He took pictures of it, but was unable to pick them up from a drugstore due to a snowstorm that week. By then, the photos were useless and the city already knew about the
Mrs. Scarbrough/Mr. Hunter
Social Studies/Language Arts
16 December 2016
The Chicago Flood of 1992 April thirteenth, 1992. Busy, just like any other day in the Loop. But a series of highly unlikely mishaps would cause billions in damage that day. The events can be traced all the way back to 1899, when the Illinois Telephone and Telegraph company had permission to build tunnels for cables from city hall, but instead built seven-foot-wide railroad tunnels. These tunnels were used to remove coal ash and other trash from Loop buildings, providing a great advantage over the crowded streets, traffic being much worse than even today. Eventually the tunnels lost their advantage to modern technology and were finally abandoned in …show more content…
In spite of this, the flood could have been avoided by the official in charge of supervising the replacing of pilings failed to show up, supposedly unable to find parking. though he approved it anyway. This was a fatal issue, because the pilings being even just that far away from their original position penetrated the decaying tunnels below. If the piling inspector had done his job correctly, the flood would not have happened. On a more general note, the tunnels did not receive any maintenance whatsoever. A simple petition could have stopped this, but the fact most likely went unseen by many Chicago residents. It is unknown if any plans were made for the tunnels at that time, but sooner or later, they would collapse. There is currently a plan in place to repair the tunnel system, though it is projected to cost seven billion. “Anything manmade needs maintenance or it will deteriorate over time.” Bruce Moffat says, regarding the shape the tunnels are in. Another channel through which the flood could have been stopped is the issue of James Mctigue and his boss, General Services Commissioner Ben Reyes.The mayor deemed Reyes innocent of indirectly or directly causing the flood, even though he learned of the leaking in mid-march, told by Mctigue´s supervisor, Syed Ahmad (though he did not receive punishment either). Mctigue investigated the leak site, tipped off by a television crew that found the leak. He took pictures of it, but was unable to pick them up from a drugstore due to a snowstorm that week. By then, the photos were useless and the city already knew about the