It was a day for feeling that almost forgotten embarrassment of youth, the horrible sinking in the pit of your stomach when your feet suddenly slide from beneath you and there you are, sitting in icy slush.
Though Saturday`s freezing drizzle was only the latest disaster in a December already rich in weather problems, it was the first to claim a new victim: the pedestrian.
All across the area Saturday, joggers pranced gingerly on glazed sidewalks, high-heeled shoppers clung to the arms of more sure-footed companions and everybody forced to be out on foot spent most of the time staring at the ground ahead, aiming for the salted patches and watching for slippery spots.
One to two inches of snow were expected to fall Sunday, with temperatures hovering just above freezing, according to the Central Weather Service. Clearer skies were predicted for Monday.
But Saturday, there was no relief to the persistent cold drizzle and fog that obscured the city`s skyscrapers and emptied the windshield wiper fluid reservoirs on many cars.
At True Value Hardware in Des Plaines, the entire stock of salt was sold out by 11 a.m., a worker said, and no one knew when more was expected in.
At La Grange Memorial Hospital, more than 48 people had limped into the emergency room by midafternoon with ice-related injuries, from sprained backs to broken ankles and wrists.
And on side streets throughout the area, children were getting an early opportunity to try out their new Christmas ice skates, while their parents struggled simply to get their cars out of the driveway.
” `Stay home` is our advice,” said a spokeswoman for Hinsdale Hospital, where emergency room business was up 50 percent due to the weather. ”Ankles fractured, wrists fractured, head injuries-that`s all we`ve had,” she said, counseling walkers to ”wear boots. Tennis shoes aren`t gripping the ice.”
However, those seeking an alternative to walking Saturday weren`t having much luck, either. The bad weather also was causing delays in nearly every other form of transportation, from buses and trains to planes and automobiles. At Midway Airport, all Saturday night flights were canceled. No planes were able to land after 1:25 p.m. and takeoffs also came to a halt for the day at 2:30 p.m. ”And they tell us it`s going to get worse,” said Lisa Howard, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Aviation, who pronounced the day ”a disaster.”
On the streets, Chicago police reported about 2,200 traffic accidents between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., including an astonishing 325 accidents from 3 to 4 p.m. Saturday.
”I`ve never seen figures like that for an hour,” said Officer Joseph Deleo of the Major Accidents division.
”It`s best, if you`re able, to just stay inside today,” added Kirsten Svare, spokeswoman for the Department of Streets and Sanitation, where even the salt trucks were stuck in traffic Saturday morning behind ice-related accidents.
Though most main streets and highways were clear of ice by late Saturday morning, Svare and other road officials said, side streets remained a problem, in part because accidents and cars unable to move on the ice were blocking parts of streets.
On the near West Side, a 3rd Battalion firetruck slid into a light pole and a tree Saturday morning, spraining the finger of firefighter Maria DeCaussen, according to 1st District Chief William Nolan.
”The equipment is so heavy you don`t stop,” he said. ”It`s difficult to stop at all. This truck wasn`t doing five miles an hour.
”It`s terrible conditions,” he said.
At Midway Airport, clouds descended to less than 200 feet Saturday, reducing visibility to a half mile.
”It`s a pilot`s nightmare and a controller`s nightmare,” said controller supervisor Lee Reilly, counting seven planes left circling the airport at 2 p.m. ”I can guarantee there`ll be a lot of delays.”
Adding to the problem in Chicago, said Howard, of the aviation department, was a bank of similar weather extending all the way to the East Coast. The problem was particularly severe over Ohio, she said, forcing the cancellation of some flights to that area and further east.
Other cancellations were reported in flights to northern California, Louisville and Pittsburgh, she said, and most flights out of O`Hare were delayed 30 to 45 minutes.
”The weather in other cities has really caused havoc,” she said, even though runways at O`Hare remained clear.
About 140,000 people were expected to travel through O`Hare Saturday, Howard said, but she noted that the big holiday rush wasn`t expected until Tuesday. ”We`re just thankful this didn`t happen then,” she said. ”We`re keeping our fingers crossed.”
Landings and takeoffs also had stopped entirely Saturday at most other area airports, including Meigs, Howell Airport in New Lenox and Lansing Airport. All would have been busy if the weather had been better, spokesmen said.
