Life slogged back to normal across Illinois on Friday after a blizzard that left virtually no corner of the state untouched, with snowplows and heavy equipment clearing side streets, students returning to school after two rare snow days in a row and mail
CHICAGO (AP) — Life slogged back to normal across Illinois on Friday after a blizzard that left virtually no corner of the state untouched, with snowplows and heavy equipment clearing side streets, students returning to school after two rare snow days in a row and mail service resuming. The sprawling storm dumped 20.2 inches of snow in Chicago, the third most in city history, left 17 inches in Pontiac in central Illinois and set a 24-hour snowfall record in Moline with 16.7 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Northern parts of the state were hit by a double whammy of heavy snow and strong winds gusting up to 70 mph at Chicago’s lakefront, while southern counties contended with ice and sleet. Quinn said the costs of the storm would be in the millions of dollars but couldn’t be more specific, and the government will have to cover expenses including thousands of hours of overtime. But by Friday morning, most of the things brought to a standstill by the storm — including airports, schools and mail service — were back up and running smoothly, a situation that had state and local officials patting themselves on the back a bit. "This, to me, was government at its best," said Gov. Pat Quinn said at a news conference in Chicago, flanked by state snow-fighting trucks. "It took some special, extraordinary people . . . who had to be on the front lines of protecting all of us during this crisis." In the battle against. nature, Quinn insisted, "we won, the people won." Quinn sidestepped questions about whether the city of Chicago should have acted sooner to close Lake Shore Drive, where hundreds of motorists were stranded for up to 12 hours. "It’s in the city’s jurisdiction," Quinn said. "I don’t think Monday morning quarterbacking by the state is particularly helpful." Mayor Richard Daley has also said the city did well in responding to the storm, with one glaring exception. As of Friday, more than 130 cars were waiting to be reunited with their owners. Quinn issued a disaster declaration for the state Monday before the storm began, and he activated more than 500 Illinois National Guard troops to assist state police in patrolling state highways. Agency leaders said planning allowed them to get ahead of the storm. "We were ready for the storm, and we hit it head on," said Christine Reed, director of highways for the Illinois Department of Transportation. She said state workers cleared 16,000 miles of highways, used 51,000 tons of salt and worked 14,000 hours of overtime during the storm. And officials say more than 4,000 motorists were helped and 270 traffic accidents were handled, with no major injuries. Chicago had all 274 of its snow trucks and 200 pieces of heavy equipment out on Friday to clear side streets, a process that’s expected to take several more days. The Illinois Policy Institute, a think tank that’s been assessing city snow removal for years, has so far given the city a C on its handling of side streets, compared to a B overall. Public policy analyst Ashley Muchow said the organization will issue its final grade for side streets on Sunday. "We’re going to see how the roads look and give the city a comprehensive grade then," Muchow said. In Chicago and the Quad Cities, schools reopened after two days off. This week marked the first snow days for Chicago Public Schools since 1999. Mail delivery resumed Thursday in northern Illinois and parts of other areas after the snow kept carriers off the streets, and they hoped to be caught up by Monday, according to postal service spokesmen. Workers couldn’t move mail from processing plants to carriers, and many carriers weren’t able to make it to work. Postal trucks also heeded requests from municipalities to stay off the roads as they were being cleared. Chicago district spokesman Mark Reynolds said he’d never seen mail suspended in his 25 years with the agency. "We gave it the old college try, but there was just too much snow," Reynolds said. Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.