'What I saw then is a sight that I will never forget as long as I live,' said Larry Langford, who covered the 1992 Loop flood. 'It looked like the biggest bathtub drain in the world.' Read more about the flood: ChicagoStoriesWTTW
There would have been no Loop flood in 1992 if it weren’t for the network of underground freight tunnels – and those freight tunnels technically were not supposed to be there in the first place.
The purpose of the freight tunnels was to move such things as coal, water, packages, merchandise, and other items between the buildings that were connected to them. This helped avoid bad traffic congestion in the Loop, which lacked street lights and coherent traffic patterns at the time. A two-foot-wide rail track and small locomotives were also part of the underground activity.
By 1959, the tunnels had become obsolete as technology advanced and the operation was no longer profitable. It fell to the City of Chicago to maintain the tunnels. Aside from the occasional group of urban explorers touring the tunnels and occasional maintenance, the system was mostly out of sight, out of mind.
As the water flooded into the basements of several buildings in the Loop, utilities such as electricity, gas, and plumbing were shut off. Some subway service was disrupted when power was shut down. Trading at the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange halted as water poured into their basements. City Hall and the Art Institute reported flooding in their basements, too. Mary Dixon, who was a reporter for WXRT Radio at the time, toldthe flood. It also had not rained recently.
After following the reports from the scanners, Langford went to the river close to the Kinzie Street Bridge.
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