After the rain, getting around Chicago area no easy task

All around Chicago area this morning, commuters by planes, trains and automobiles soldiered on their way, trying to deal with the effects of record-setting overnight storms.

Here’s what travel was like early this morning: Two truckers had to be rescued by boat after abandoning ship on a South Side expressway.

Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said that the water was so deep where the Bishop Ford Expressway meets I-57 that the Chicago Fire Department had to use a boat to rescue two truck drivers whose trucks were nearly submerged.

Three trucks, two tankers and a box semi were in water up to their mirrors, forcing their drivers to find higher ground. One swam out, but two climbed on top of their trucks, where they were picked up by the fire department boat.

Langford was also at the scene earlier on at the 83rd Street underpass on the Dan Ryan. He said that was six cars stalled in the middle of the road there, with water up to the top of their doors. He also said there was about three feet of water on the CTA tracks there. Fire and police are at the scene, diverting traffic off the road onto side streets, some of which have no traffic lights because power is out.

Similar problems plagued the roads into and out of O’Hare this morning. The rapid rainfall –- a record 6.91 inches as of about 7 a.m.–- blocked roads and out of the airport in the early morning, making things dicey for people who had booked early morning flights.

Tribune reporter Angie Leventis Lourgos reported this morning that she was able to get into the airport via I-190, though the traffic was very backed up, some roads did have standing water on them and some exits were closed.

And getting there via public transportation was no easier. The Red and Pink Lines, which had been affected at some stretches, were fully operational. The Blue Line between O’Hare and Rosemont was closed down by the CTA this morning, and shuttle buses will be used between those stops through Sunday, according to CTA spokeswoman Lambrini Lukidis, who said that the shuttles running to O'Hare took passengers as far as a remote parking lot. They're then transported to the terminals.

According to the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications, Mannheim Road near O'Hare was closed in both directions, as was Irving Park Road and Bessie Coleman Drive under the I-190 bridge.

That agency also said O'Hare was reporting delays of up to one hour and about 100 cancellations as of 10:30 a.m. Operations are normal at Midway International Airport.

The Edens Expressway, the Dan Ryan, the Eisenhower, and the Bishop Ford all also experienced periods where the roads were unpassable, as did numerous streets throughout the area.