Nov 5, 2009 4:41 pm US/Central
Ice Falls From Sky Onto Northcenter House
Homeowners Think It Was From An Airplane
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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This ice fell from the sky onto the roof of a house in the Northcenter neighborhood.
CBS
The Chicken Little scenario -- the sky is falling -- came true Wednesday night for a Chicago family. A huge chunk of ice crashed into their home at 4242 N. Wolcott Av.
Federal investigators told CBS 2's Derrick Blakley that they're working to find out if it came from a plane.
Paul and Linda Dowd said they are thankful for their good fortune. They could have been sound asleep in their attic bedroom when a giant ice ball struck their 100-year-old home last night, hitting the dormer just outside.
"That would have been very scary. Thank God it wasn't five feet more," Linda said. "You never know, we got skylights. It would have come through the skylights and possibly hurt or injured one of us."
Linda said she was watching "Freaky Friday" with her 11-year-old son, Sean, when they heard a loud boom.
"We were just laying there watching TV and all of sudden we heard and big thud and the house was shaking. It felt like an earthquake or something," she said.
"It sounded like someone was trying to break into my house, and I didn't know what it was," added neighbor Steve Martin.
Repair crews installed blue tarp over the damage Thursday to close the hole in their roof. But last night, the damage was clear to see, with the wood debris littering the ground.
What's left of the ice has been stored in their basement refrigerator.
But Paul Dowd said he and his wife are still puzzled about where the ice came from.
Dozens of planes fly over or nearby the Dowds' home every day, either to or from O'Hare International Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating whether any of those planes might have sprung a leak.
"If we can pinpoint three, four, five planes that may have been in that area, we'll give that information to our investigators. They'll contact the owner or pilots to see if there's any kind of water leakage in their aircraft," said FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro.
Asked why he's preserving the ice, Paul Dowd cracked, "For margaritas!"
The Dowds can joke about it now, since no one got hurt and interior damage was minimal. But they said life under a flight path shouldn't be so expensive, or so potentially hazardous.
"The only big thing is, we didn't do anything and now we have to pay a $500 deductible," Linda said.
The Dowds still don't have a dollar estimate of the damage, but they were told that entire dormer will probably have to be rebuilt.
Dowd said her insurance company had a hard time believing what had happened, as did Chicago Police. They told her they have never seen anything like this before.
It's also possible the ice fell off a high-flying plane that wasn't headed into O'Hare. If so, the FAA says, the source may never be found.
The home is about 10 miles from an O'Hare runaway.
The FAA has dealt with complaints for decades about "blue ice" falling from airplanes over the city, particularly in O'Hare and Midway Airport flight paths. This is the result of a blue chemical in aircraft lavatory tanks that occasionally leaks out and freezes in midair.
But this latest case was not blue ice.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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