Any Chicagoan with a basement knows that you don’t have to live on the MISSISSIPPI RIVER to have flood problems. This pre-Deep Tunnel scene, with old Dobbin getting through where the milk truck couldn’t, was the aftermath of a heavy storm that also picked up hundreds of HITCHHIKING MINNOWS on its journey from the Gulf of Mexico and deposited them on Prairie Avenue.
– Perrcentage of U.S. homeowners in flood-prone areas who have flood insurance: LESS THAN 50.
– Storage capacity of the Deep Tunnel wastewater system: 1.3 BILLION GALLONS.
– Record for underwater breath-holding: 7 MINUTES, 35 SECONDS.
– Number of graves washed away by flooding in a Hardin, Mo., cemetery in 1993: 769.
Pairs of animals Noah took aboard the ark: 8,000.
Amount of waste those animals produced daily: 12 METRIC TONS.
— Sources: Tribune files, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Guinness World Records, “Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study” by John Woodmorappe.
