Storm Story: Chicago Edition

Photo from Chicago Tribune

For the past days, storms have been rolling in and out of Chicago. And last night was no exception. Before I got out of the office, it was already dark as night but it was only 5 pm. As I was waiting for the 5:45 bus, tiny rain drops started to fall.

“Thank God the bus arrived before the rain poured” said one person waiting with me at the bus stop. And as though on cue, the rain poured as I entered the train station. It was raining a million cats and dogs. Luckily, the platform had a roof over it but the rain was being blown in from the side. People were running into the trains as not to get wet. After 5 minutes, the train departed from the station and was on to the next stop. You couldn’t see anything outside expect the raindrops hitting hard on the windows and the lightings in the far distance. The train was swaying left to right because of the strong winds. There were old folks that come from Midway Airport that were holding on for dear life. Grandma was complaining to Grandpa on why she thought coming to Chitown was, in her own sweet words, “a bad fucking idea”. Grandpa’s face was saying what his lips couldn’t, “I know, I know. Quit bitching already.” A group of teenagers were whipping out their cameras and taking their pictures with the storm as a background. “This is sooooooooo going on facebook” says one of them.

Halfway into the Pulaski station, the train stops. For about ten minutes we stood there while the wind was hauling outside. For the first time silence filled the train car. Then a voice comes from the train’s speaker. The driver was asking the passengers to not open the train doors. The driver moved the train to align it with the platform. You could see CTA workers running up and down the platform. There was no explanation as to why we stopped.

“This doesn’t look good” said Julie, who flew in from Arizona to be with friends in Chicago. She said she hasn’t seen anything like it. That she was curious and scared at the same time. Close by passengers started to express their fears and worries. Others shared their own storm stories. Julie, who as sitting next to me asked about my experience with storms, I told her I’ve seen worst and been in worst storms than this one. I told them stories about storms in the Philippines and being stuck in one back the 90’s. In the middle of our story telling, the AC and lights were turned off. The teenagers started to panic, screaming OMG, OMG. The driver announced the reason for the stop; debris was on the tracks of the train. Voices got loud, most of it were cursing. I told Julie that she choose a bad time to fly in. She blamed her friend for it. But she said this was a new thing for her. And for some odd reason, she’s ok with it and then gives me a pretty smile. We chatted more, got to know each other while everyone was calling their loved ones and friends, complaining about the storm and everything else. CTA finally said that the train cannot move any further until the storm stops. They had empty buses waiting downstairs for those who were heading downtown. As we were moving from train to the bus, we could see CTA workers taking pictures of the storm with their camera phone. I helped Julie with her stuff (why she had 2 small luggage is beyond me). We were both glad with how CTA handled the situation. We got onboard and talked some more.

Outside, the storm seemed to be letting up. It was still dark and still raining but not as hard as it did earlier. Fire trucks, Patrol cars and Ambulances were running on the streets. The bus was running for about 30 minutes when we stop. One of the roads was flooded and the cars in front of us wouldn’t pass through the flood. We were stuck once again. The bus driver said that we were going to head back to the station, the trains were working again. Others cheered while some continue to drop F bombs like it was the 4^th of July. Julie was relieved. She said she didn’t want to see the city this way. I told her that tomorrow promised to be a better day.

So we got back to the station and boarded another train. This time, the ride when smoothly. The driver kept on apologizing for the inconvenience, even though it wasn’t their fault. Outside, it was still raining but the winds dead down a bit. It didn’t sway the train car anymore. Julie’s stop was approaching. She got up and thanked me for everything. We gave me her number and said she’ll be in town till Sunday. Said I should call her and she gave me other smile. She pulled her stuff near the door and said goodbye before exiting the train. I looked at her through the window as the train continued its route.

This was probably one of the few times I was happy about a storm. Most of the time, I’d be cursing at the weather but this time was different. Why? You do the math. And if there’s anything that amazes me with all that had happened last night, it is the fact that I didn’t get wet during this storm.