"Giant Tsunami meets local city lake." April Fool's Day? Probably. "Giant Tidal Wave Hits Chicago." Joke, right? No. That was the headline in the afternoon edition of the Chicago Daily News on June 26, 1954.
I left home in my beat-up Chevy around 9:00 am on a warm Saturday morning in June 1954 and went uptown to Lake Michigan Montrose beach and harbor, to meet my father and a few friends at the Wilson rocks Bait shop, where he hung with his colleagues Fischer. We wanted to do something Perch fishing ...... that is a tough white meat fish that a taste of heaven, when deep fried and served with lemon, tartar sauce and french accordion. Preparations for my last year in high school, I had been working a hard construction project and was in need of some sun and relaxation. Perch were the answer on this Saturday morning, but I would soon something else ...... something that I would never forget.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed it was full of water even though it be a bright sunny day. The lake was choppy unusual. I also noticed, people in the direction of the pier runs. It was a feeling of something very serious and very bad going and immediately and instinctively I went for the bait shop to connect with my father. He saw me coming and said, "Let's go to the pier, they have down there helping," and we have full speed along with many other off. A Seiche (saysh pronounced) had struck this June morning without warning Montrose Harbor. It was 8 feet high and 25 miles wide and hit Chicago entire lakefront ...... from Michigan City, Indiana on the North Shore. Eight people were killed, most of them were right there to fish in Montrose Harbor, where about 15 or 20 fishermen were swept the narrow, 175-meter concrete pillars. And we knew that many of them.
When we arrived, bathers and fishermen coverage ran. Men, women and children scurried and fell. Yachts bobbed far in the water. The wave in some places had 150 feet in a few minutes near the coast crashed off decay, which explains why I saw so much water when I pulled into the parking lot. There were rescues, panic, despair and narrow escapes. Unfortunately we were too late to be of any real help and then stood helplessly as the rescue teams the grim work began to pull every body out of the lake. Apparently Fischer, lying on his stomach, idly guiding lines were in the water were simply swept away on the pier as the water swelled up and washed over them. Fishermen on the North Avenue pier, several miles to the south were also swept into the lake, and the same grim work was done there. Among thrown into the water was Ted Stempinski who was Ralph fishing with his son, left 16. Ralph the scene for a moment, just before the wave struck. When he was returned to his father disappeared. The same thing happened with John Jaworski, who fished with his son. These tragic facts were hardly unnoticed and stayed with me for a long time after.
News of the oncoming wave was quickly spread by Park Police, fishermen deleted from a pier on 61st St. in Jackson Park minutes before the water dipped this area. At Loyola beach north broke the waves over a 9-foot dike. All Warehouses in Belmont Harbor yacht basin were flooded, as the wave of the water level is raised there about 6 feet. had
Before June 26 heard no word "Seiche." most of us were held expert on the phenomena June 26.
In particular, "has a Seiche in a closed water body occur as a lake, bay or golf. A Seiche, a French word meaning" to sway back and forth, "is a standing wave that vibrates in a lake as to provide a result of seismic or atmospheric disturbances in a few moments large fluctuations in water levels. the standing waves slosh back and forth between the shores of the lake basin, often referred to as torrential changes in the great lakes, by many. most seiches on the great lakes are results of atmospheric disturbances and a cease-fire in the wind, not seismic activity or huge tidal forces "(Heidorn 2004; Wittman 2005).
This particular Seiche who was the most dangerous of the three types, was fueled by a severe squall line with strong winds and rapid changes in atmospheric pressure, the crossed pressed on the lake surface down and a southern Lake Michigan few hours earlier runs from northwest to southeast. It is as if you dropped a stone in the middle of a bucket of water and watched the waves coming from the center move. The air pressure caused the squall be was the stone and the waves were the Seiche. As the water sloshing back and forth in a bathtub, fast-moving squall lines with intense atmospheric pressure caused the lake to slosh back and forth, and water levels on the coast and ports increase by up to 10 feet in a matter of minutes and with no warning.
Unlike a tsunami that can travel at extremely high speeds across the open sea, a Seiche moves much slower. It took 80 minutes to Seiche 40 miles from Michigan City to travel the Chicago shore at North Avenue. That's about 30 miles per hour. The Seiche Struck the entire Illinois coast with a shaft about 2 to 4 feet high, but it reaches a maximum height of 10 meters as it approached the North Avenue pier.
as an eyewitness to the period immediately after, I was surprised by the way taken in which dramatizes the Chicago papers, the Tragedy. Fear 10 Killed mother of 11 among the victims 3 divers, boats hunting Other Three people drowned; HERE "BIG Tsunami Many swept into the lake: The Chicago Daily News, now defunct, ran headlines that read in two inch black lettering! ... and several more were feared lost Saturday when a 25-mile-wide tidal wave Lake Michigan smashed bank here. the monster wave, estimated from 3 to 10 feet high, struck around 9 am from Jackson Park north to Wilmette. indefinite number. people were swept into the lake estimates of the death toll as 10 ran as high ....... great tidal wave "There is no was," "it was a freak and deadly Seiche. Since then there have been numerous scandals and reports of smaller seiches been, but not causing similar damage or deaths.
Interestingly, however, one of the biggest disasters in the city of Buffalo, NY recorded history at 11am held October 18, 1844, as a wall quickly from water flooded, the commercial and residential district on the waterfront. The disaster occurred flood without warning, the 14-foot dike breach and the waterfront. show newspaper reports that 78 people drowned. This tragedy was caused by a Seiche, as prolonged high winds by pressing the water to one end of Lake Erie produced a Seiche. When the winds stopped or moved in the opposite direction, the water moves back in the direction from which it came and the Seichedid the rest. It is estimated that Buffalo has two or three seiches a year, but the risk of a breakwater by the construction in Lake Erie has been largely eliminated, a project that started in the 1860s.
Unlike devastating tsunami caused by underwater earthquakes, seiches have never caused much damage in the Great Lakes, and most go unnoticed because they are relatively subtle and imperceptible, water levels on the beaches caused only a foot or less rise.
But this was very noticeable and went on a calm, warm Saturday morning in Chicago. What began as a day of peaceful fishing turned out to be an experience that is indelibly remained in my mind and, I think, worthy of sharing. One thing is certain, we will never experience a Seiche here .......... at least I think not.
"It has not come in like a wall ..... the water just started going to rise and held until it was perhaps six meters higher than usual." Dick Keating, Belmont Harbor Foreman and eyewitness.
