So You Like Disaster Movies?

Many folks have gone to check out my little video clip taken the night our apartment was destroyed. So far, everyone has enjoyed the humorous take on things all while appreciating the true horror of the moment and I think that was what I had in mind. I fully expect that someone will find this and get pissed at me for making light of the situation but here are a few things to consider.

1. For me I had no idea how severe it all was until later that evening (well into the morning). I was on the second floor and I really didn't know the full extent of the emergency. When the Red Cross was there I kind of knew it was "a disaster", but it wasn't until the next morning when we REALLY knew what had happened. Something about phone calls from friends and relatives watching our apartment on CNN and The Weather Channel tipped us off.
2. Surprisingly, even with the storm destroying the building as it did, the lights and electricity did not go off. Not even a flicker in my apartment. The phones even worked perfectly. Generally I always believed that if a building is wiped out completely, the electricity wouldn't be functioning normally. How was I to know how bad it all was?
3. I didn't even see news footage or photos of the full disaster until well into the next day. In fact it was the following night before I'd seen any of the coverage on TV.

So you can see if you add that to the fact that, ultimately, nobody was severely hurt, I am more than capable (if not well within my rights) to make lemonade out of shit-load of lemons.

Speaking of news footage, I do not have any newspaper articles from the disaster. I also never went back and took any photos of the aftermath. If anyone from Carol Stream has such things I'd welcome a scan or two.

Until then, here are some of the still-existing links to various news sources from that fateful night for you to better appreciates the fun we all enjoyed.

From CBS 2 news Chicago, a video of the story (let the stupid Maui ad play first) and a great little slide show that better illustrates the disaster. One photo prominently features our balcony.


A local Chicago paper not only reported on the storm (much better than I did I might add), but also provided a weather map detailing the storm activity from 9:49PM through 9:55 PM. If I can manage to get the link right I may be able to share that WeatherUnderground.com map here.

Ah YES! Here it is!

The Chicago ABC station (Channel 7) has this excellent story with a MUCH BETTER video from the big day. Their slide show truly captures some devastation well. Be sure to look at how the building looks more like a doll house than an actual apartment. Funny how a chunk of roof makes a house a home.

Here are stories from the Daily Herald and The Beacon News. No photos or videos for you.

There may be more out there online. For now, I hope you enjoy these clips and images. They're nowhere near as funny as my video is. ;)

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