CTA Tattler

Elevated tracks gives horrifying view of wind's tree carnage

A trip on any of the CTA's elevated lines this weekend provided a bird's-eye of the awful destruction of trees and building wrought by 65-mph-plus winds on Thursday afternoon and evening.

I didn't traverse the entire length of the CTA's vast elevated train system this past weekend, but I think I can say with some certainty that the worst of the damage can be found in Graceland Cemetery

It's literally a crying shame to see all those huge, old trees uprooted in Graceland Cemetery, hard by the Red and Purple Line tracks. Of course, tombstones were upended as well.

And then there's the giant cottonwood tree that fell on back of the house on the north side of the Sheridan Red Line stop, just west of Byron's hot dog shop. My wife was on that platform during the storm, holding on to a pole for dear life, when she witnessed the tree go slamming into that house.

Unfortunately, I have no photos of the damage. I was searching for some of Graceland, but haven't found any. Have you?

I did find this one by Blipsman on Flickr that show CTA shelters weren't not too sheltering last Thursday night: