Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Although it's a day later than expected, heavy snow moved through the Chicago area Wednesday, creating a sloppy and dangerous mess on the roads. Some areas will get up to a foot of snow, and O'Hare International Airport has canceled 900 flights.

If snow continues to fall at this pace, the Chicago area is on track for its sixth snowiest winter ever.

As promised, streets and sanitation department plows were out in force Wednesday night, plowing and salting Chicago's main thoroughfares. As CBS 2's Mike Parker reports, by 7 p.m., most major streets were wet but otherwise in pretty good shape.

It was a different story on the side streets, still waiting for those city trucks. Unplowed, they had a slippery coating of snow and some of the drivers parked there were going to have a tough time digging out.

That was North Side resident Michelle Lebron's plight Wednesday night. Late to pick up her son from day care, she was trying to clear away the ice and snow so she could drive away.

"I'm stuck in the snow," she said. "I'm six months pregnant and I'm getting a backache and I can't get out."

She finally freed her car thanks to a push from friends.

The side streets are treacherous as well for those who fan out across the city, delivering food from restaurants like Chicago's Pizza. When the streets are bad, guys like Omar Sanchez do more driving that usual. 

Continuous precipitation has created a thick mess on streets and sidewalks.

"I will caution the public, it's dangerous," said Commissioner Mike Picardi of the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation. "The side streets are slushy and can turn into ice very quickly. You have to slow down."

At snow command, road temperature monitors measure the air and surface temperature and what they call the grip level – the slipperiness of the street.

"You will see accumulation during rush hour," Picardi warned. "We're stuck in traffic like everybody else."

Parents are advised to keep an eye on the weather and check in the morning to see if classes will go on as scheduled. Click here to check a list of school closings.

As of 8:30 p.m. delays are averaging 1 minutes to 3 hours for all flights in and out of O'Hare, and airlines have canceled 900 flights to minimize impact on their customers. At Midway Airprot, delays are averaging 40 to 90 minutes, with approximately 130 cancellations due to the weather.

Travelers were strongly advised to check their airline's Web site or call ahead to check on flight status and allow for plenty of travel time. 

CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports the heavy snow forced many schools throughout the area to cancel classes, and in some cases dismiss students early.

From the tiny pre-schoolers to the big eight graders, students bundled up for early dismissal from Saint Benedict the African Parochial School. Parents picked up their children at 1 o'clock, two hours early because of the predicted snowfall. 
 
As CBS 2 West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli reports from Lisle Township, the snow continued to come down Wednesday evening. But most of the snow fell before the rush hour, allowing crews some time to get in and start clearing roads. Even still, the roads were difficult to navigate and commuters took extra caution, and time, to get home.

As CBS 2 North Suburban Bureau Chief Katie McCall reports from the Lake Forest oasis, everyone tells you to drive slowly in this kind of weather, and driving around the suburbs Wednesday afternoon—over and over—it was obvious why that is such good advice.

People who work at the Lake Forest oasis were prepared for hundreds of drivers who may want to get off of the roads and wait out this winter storm.

Throughout the far northern suburbs 8 inches of snow fell by early afternoon, and it just kept coming. Schools closed early and Lake County shut down almost all of its buildings. Drivers in the area were left stranded in the snow.

"I was trying to rock it back and forth and the more I did the farther in I got," said one driver whose car was stuck in the snow.

The Lake County Division of Transportation has 2,500 tons of salt and 25 drivers trying to clear all of the county roads, but early Wednesday evening the snow was winning the fight.

"Hopefully once it ends we'll be able to clean them up maybe we'll see, I'm sure we'll be here all night tonight and tomorrow," said Paul Serzynski of the Lake County Division of Transportation.

At the Hawthorne Mall in Vernon Hills it was all too much. The mall at Townline Road and Milwaukee Avenue closed at 2 p.m. because of the snow. That didn't matter much to shoppers who couldn't get there anyway, including Rhonda Schoonaker, who was stuck at the mall's entrance.

"I tried to pull over and I couldn't see very well and I hit the curb," she said. "I'm stuck."

Municipalities like Grayslake and Libertyville are doing what they can to clear the streets, but most do not have the man power to reach all of them quickly.

On the Chicago Skyway, a tanker truck carrying chocolate crashed. The tanker ended up on its side across the inbound lanes and the cab crashed through a guardrail and ended up dangling off an embankment.

"You get some slick spots, even with the salt on there, apparently he hit one," Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said. "It looks like a weather-related incident."

Three people, including the truck driver, were injured, but none of the injuries were serious.

Both inbound and outbound lanes were closed at the scene as crews cleaned up the wreck. All lanes had reopened by 1 p.m., according to WBBM Newsradio 780.

When the snow started falling heavily around 9 a.m., as temperatures dropped, ice became a big problem. That's why salt is a hot commodity.

Driver Jay Rivera said, "Thank God I have an SUV so I'm not sliding, but a lot of people have been sliding around, but not me. I'm just taking it easy." He said it normally takes him about an hour and 10 minutes to drive to Lake Forest from Milwaukee, but on Wednesday, it took him more than two hours.

CBS 2's Ed Curran, Kristyn Hartman, Mary Kay Kleist, Katie McCall, Joanie Lum, Mike Puccinelli and Don Schwenneker and WBBM Newsradio 780 contributed to this report.

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