The Record Downpour

Late last week Mary Hikade of Grand Rapids, Mich., died. I only met her once, at the wedding of my nephew Sam and his wife Emily, but she seemed like a kind and gracious lady. She was Emily's mother, passing away at only 63. Her obituary in the Grand Rapids Press is here. RIP, Mrs. Hikade.

It's been dry for weeks around here, but as if they'd been scheduled in advance, big storms came Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, following roughly the same pattern. Late in the evening, far-off lightning. Then the low rumbling of thunder. After midnight, loud thunder and lightning and some rain, how much depending on the day. Saturday, it turned out, set a record rainfall for the Chicago area on a single day, as measured at O'Hare: 6.86 inches, with all of that falling in the wee hours.

The last time it rained nearly that much, in 2008, we got this. There wasn't that kind of accumulation this time in our immediate area, but some other parts of metro Chicago got too much of a soaking, I hear.