Rain-related impacts on selected transportation activities and utility services in the Chicago area.

Abstract

Added rain resulted in over 100% more vehicle accidents, particularly in the urban area, but the accident severity associated with rain was greater in the rural areas. Rainfall decreased ridership of mass transit systems by 3-5%. The number of delays in flight departures from O'Hare Airport was highly related to rain, increasing from only 0.3% of all flights delayed on non-rain days to 18.2% delayed on heavy (greater than or equal to 1.3cm) rain days. -from Author