River reversal will last until flooding stabilizes

(Above) Yellow “caution” tape blocks access to the Chicago Riverwalk from Wabash Avenue on Thursday afternoon. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

April 19, 2013 – The Chicago River flowed the wrong way on Thursday, as the city eased flooding by routing the river into Lake Michigan. Gates at Chicago River Controlling Works were opened at 3:47 a.m., sending what Friends of the Chicago River described as a “sewer-laden Chicago River full of trash” into the lake.

Gates were also opened early Thursday morning at Wilmette Lock north of Chicago and O’Brien Controlling Works and Lock south of the city. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago says the locks will stay open “until the situation is stabilized.”

This happens about once a year, when the river is higher than the lake by pre-determined elevations. What is left of five-and-a-half inches of rain is now 2.3 billion gallons of water that filled the city’s 109-mile-long tunnel and reservoir system.

“This has been an extraordinary storm,” said Thomas Power, commissioner of the Department of Water Management. “We are working aggressively with other departments…and sister agencies to address all of the problems the storm has caused.”

While downtown Chicago was largely spared power outages, water in basements, broken traffic signals, and fallen power lines, it was not without inconvenience. Commercial traffic on the river came to a halt. Wendella Boats cancelled all of its sightseeing tours for the day, due to the weather, breaking the news on its Facebook page late Thursday morning.

The Chicago Department of Transportation has cancelled the bridge lifts that were scheduled for Saturday morning. And as the river flirted with the top of the seawall, CDOT blocked a stretch of the Chicago Riverwalk near Wabash Avenue.

(Left) High river level near the riverwalk below Wabash Avenue.

The weather forecast for Friday is hopeful, with the National Weather Service predicting a chance of light rain or snow after 1 p.m.