Jan Wesner Childs
The Chicago River was re-engineered in the late 1800s to flow backward. But city officials can turn it around to redirect excess water during heavy rainfall events. That happened Sunday, for the first time in more than three years.
Why does the Chicago River flow backward?
-In the late 1800s, Chicago’s population was booming and waste from slaughterhouses, stock yards and humans all flowed into the river.
-The Chicago River went into Lake Michigan, the city’s main water supply, where the waste fueled outbreaks of cholera and other diseases.
-A massive, and controversial, system of canals, levees and bridges was built in the late 1800s to make the Chicago River flow backward.
-The diversion system, which opened in 1900, sent the Chicago River’s flow away from the lake, into a series of other waterways and, eventually, into the Mississippi River.
-Today the system is part of a wider water treatment and flood control plan that allows the river’s flow to be temporarily switched during periods of heavy rainfall, like what happened this weekend.
The Chicago River Walk with Marina Towers is seen in this file photo.Weather.com meteorologist Ari Sarsalari adds:
-There was a uniquely high amount of moisture in the air on Sunday. That, coupled with a uniquely slow moving system, produced multiple rounds of heavy rain that led to very impressive rain totals … in some spots close to 9 inches.
-The day before, the Chicago area picked up 1 to 2 inches of rain, so the ground was somewhat soaked already before Sunday's torrential rain.
-The heaviest rain and worst flooding were on the west side of Chicago and in the west suburbs.
People walk along pit row in the rain before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at the Grant Park 220 Sunday, July 2, 2023, in Chicago.How often does the Chicago River get reversed?
-The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago makes the call on when to reverse the flow of the river due to heavy rainfall.
-City records show it’s happened about three dozen times since 1985.
-The last time before Sunday was in May of 2020.
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Weather.com reporter Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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