Chicago fortunate when it comes to coping with wrath of God-type acts

Those of us paying attention to weather reports in recent weeks have noticed the hurricanes that wrecked their wrath on Texas and now are taking aim on much of Florida. Those with a broader vision will see that those hurricanes also hit Cuba and Puerto Rico, along with the earthquake that has killed dozens in Mexico.

Many a Chicago schoolchild has seen this diorama depiction at the Chicago History Museum of the greatest disaster to impact our city -- the Great Fire of 1871. Photographs by Gregory Tejeda

All of which makes me feel fortunate these days to be in Chicago.

A LAND WHERE we don’t get hurricanes and the possibility of being impacted by an earthquake would be a geological anomaly of historic proportions.

We in the Midwest, of course, always face the possibility of tornadoes causing death and destruction. Yet we in Chicago have only 13 tornadoes known to touchdown within the city limits during its not-quite-two-century history.

And only one of those, back on May 6, 1876, hit the area now considered our city’s downtown. Two died and 35 were injured in that incident that damaged the then-Cook County Hospital, along with the Palmer House Hotel.

Coming just five years after the incident that, to this date, is the most significant disaster to impact Chicago – the Great Fire of 1871 – maybe it seemed at that point in time that Chicago was a doomed site.

ONE COULD ARGUE, of course, that the Fire shouldn’t be counted. Is it really a disaster the equivalent of Mother Nature having a hissy fit to have much of the city destroyed by a fire caused by (depending on which account you want to believe) that damned cow kicking over a lamp or some guy named “Peg Leg.”

Besides, we’ve managed to go another 140 years without significant devastation to our city.

We haven’t had a significant tornado touchdown in Chicago since 1967, and that one did most of its damage (33 dead, more than 500 injured) in suburban Oak Lawn – with some damage managing to cross over into the Southwest Side near Midway Airport.

Maybe it's a sign of how fortunate Chicago has been to be spared natural disasters that we can name a shopping center for one of the few structures NOT damaged in the Great Fire

And no, I’m not trying to downplay the tornado that whacked suburban Plainfield back in 1990. That is one of the few disaster-type incidents that I had a hand in covering as a reporter-type person.

BUT THAT ONE lies on the fringe of what could be called the Chicago-area. My point being that we in the city truly have been fortunate. One of the screwiest-type “flood” incidents we had was in 1992 when the Chicago River sprung a leak into the sub-basements that exist beneath downtown buildings.

That one can’t be blamed on nature – that one was pure man-made technical error. Or carelessness, if you prefer to think of it that way.

My point is that in watching these news reports of recent days, I can’t help but feel fortunate about where I live. It’s almost as though I was fortunate enough to be born and raised in one of the safest places in existence – something to keep in mind the next time some political crackpot wants to go off on a rage about the homicide rate of Chicago and exaggerate it into us being the deadliest place on the planet.

It makes me wonder about actress Jennifer Lawrence, who recently made comments about “Mother Nature’s Rage and Wrath” against the people who backed Donald J. Trump for president and who question the legitimacy of “global warming.”

WHICH IS A blatantly absurd thought to have. Although my understanding of the context was that she was trying to mock the individuals who go around thinking of natural disasters as “God’s punishment” against society for tolerating homosexuality.

That is a blatantly ignorant thing to say or think, and is a thought worthy of being mocked.

So what does it say that Mother Nature doesn’t seem to get all that upset about Chicago? Does she love that we don’t try to fool her that often?

Because we all (or at least those of us old enough to remember) know that it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature – even if it’s by passing off Chiffon margarine as real butter!

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What did we do to p’o Mother Nature?

As I write this, the weather conditions outside are chilly. But after all, it still technically is winter.

Remember how upset she used to get on TV commercials?

So the idea that I had to wear a coat while enjoying a bright, sunny day wasn’t all that bad. In fact, I’d argue that the people who felt compelled to attend the South Side Irish St. Patrick’s celebration on Sunday got a nice day for it. My biggest gripe was losing that hour of sleep due to the coming of Daylight Savings Time.

BUT I ALSO have to confess to feeling a sense of dread, largely because the wintry weather conditions we have experienced this particular season have left me, for lack of a better word, wimpified.

You know what I mean. Following some recent winter seasons where we got hit with some serious storms and major drops in the temperature, this year has been ridiculously mild.

I’m vaguely aware of some snowfall we have had. But it was very bearable. My own personal memory of this year includes one storm that left some snow accumulation that – just at the point I would have had to go outside to clear away the mess – managed to melt aware all on its own.

So “dread” is what I’m thinking at the weather reports that say we’re going to get hit overnight with snowfall that could build up to about six inches of that sloppy, slushy mess.

I SUSPECT I’M going to be doing some serious sidewalk clearing Monday and Tuesday, shoveling away the slop and spreading the bag of road salt that I keep around to reduce the chances of anyone slipping on the sidewalk nearby and being able to have a legitimate legal claim to blaming me for the resulting injuries they might suffer.

Speaking of salt, I have to admit to getting a little chuckle from the recent activity of municipal officials in Gary, Ind., whom I write about for a local newspaper (I have to earn a living somehow).

It was just a few days ago that council officials decided to transfer some money around in their budget – specifically including a $25,000 transfer of funds meant to buy road salt.

Because, after all, this winter had been so mild that they didn’t need to make the buy. They could find other uses for that money.

WHICH MAKES ME wonder if they’re going to have to find a way to transfer the money back and make the purchase, or if they’ll wind up trying to get by with the road salt they already had purchased.

Because I know there are some communities that were so well stocked up on supplies for the winter that they certainly don’t need to buy a thing to cope with the mess that we’re likely to occur.

Now I know some people are going to rant and rage that I ought to take my complaints about winter weather and stuff them. Because, after all, I live in the Midwestern U.S.

I ought to be used to snow by now. I ought to consider it a natural occurrence. If I can’t bear with it, I ought to move – perhaps to some sort of place in the South where they regard the borderline neurotic behavior of Donald J. Trump to bear a resemblance to sanity.

BUT I’M NOT about to move, largely because I can’t envision life in some place where people think a January temperature of about 70 degrees is normal. Besides, there always is that moment early in a snowfall when the accumulation starts to build and the world gains that pretty shade of white that makes everything appear to be so pure and clean.

Then, of course, the snow gets sloppy and dirty and we all have to take out our shovels (or snow blowers, for those of us who either are too lazy to work a shovel or not quite so cheap as to buy a blower).

It’s time to clear away the mess. Which may be one of the few times we have a truly communal experience in our society.

As we all try to clear up our sidewalks and driveways so we can drive the car out to wherever it is we still have to travel to because we can’t very well get Mother Nature to write us a note excusing us from daily life’s activities just because there’s 4 inches of slush built up!

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