Blizzard '07--the worst snowstorm I can remember, off hand, although the ice storm that hammered East Central Illinois back in the late '70s was a real doozy.
Chicken and I made it into work yesterday morning in his Jeep, since the drift blocking my garage was already about three feet high by then. Turns out only about 25% of the company showed up, and while management sent out an email saying they would hold a meeting at noon to decide whether or not to close shop for the day, most of us said, "Uh, yeah, we're gone," and split around 10:30am...not long after we discovered a gas leak in our building (the second of the month, and I don't even know if they ever fixed the first one). Truthfully, it was stupid for any of us to have gone into work yesterday morning. The building is located on the edge of town where the 40mph winds hit hardest. The parking lot was drifted over and people were having trouble getting out of it. It was even difficult to breathe, due to the wind and the cold and the snow.
It snowed and blew constantly for close to 24 hours, not slacking off until about midnight last night. We received something like 12 inches of snow. All the schools and most businesses were closed. Roads were closed. Even the University of Illinois closed, which hasn't happened since the late '70s.
I live on one of Champaign's major streets. We sat in my apartment until about 11:30 last night, and we didn't see one snowplow. Check that--we saw a few snowplows, but always driving around with their blades up. I still haven't seen or heard any snowplows, and the side street next to my house hasn't even been touched, nor do I expect it to be plowed. Champaign must have the worst snowplow policy in the world, because if they weren't out yesterday, then when? Even when driving around a bit after work (we went to the grocery store and then back to work to help pull H out of a drift), we didn't see any snowplows. I just read a story in the News-Gazette about the poor, hardworking snowplow drivers who were on the clock for 12 hours straight yesterday. Well, I don't know where they were, unless they were napping someplace. The article claims they were on North Prospect, which makes no sense, considering everything on North Prospect was closed. They weren't anywhere near my house, that's a fact, Jack.
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2 comments:
yay snow day! did they fix the gas leak. does it smell? no smoking for grady.
I was up late last night playing some video games, betting that NIU would be sensible and close up for the day (though we've only got about 8" on the ground). Of course, they were still open for business today, and i was a cranky mutha.
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