Chicago is known as the Windy City, but one recent storm proved just how destructive those winds can be. A powerful windstorm swept through the Illinois city on Friday night, leaving some residents stunned by the damage to their apartment windows. One woman later discovered that both layers of her window had shattered during the storm, leaving a large and dangerous hole in her apartment.
Of course, that wouldn’t be too bad if it were a normal window, but the floor-to-ceiling window created a potentially dangerous situation. Unfortunately, this woman isn’t the only person who has experienced something similar in a city that’s supposed to be fortified against this sort of weather.
The above video was posted to the TikTok account @marinakatharine, which belongs to a woman named Marin in the Chicago, Illinois area. The city had survived a pretty bad windstorm on Friday, March 13, but the storm’s effects left a lot of damage that surprised many residents. The video appears to have been taken from inside her apartment, where you can see the entire wall-length window smashed, letting wind in.
It appears that one wall of her apartment is a series of connected windows, creating a dangerous opening in the wall of the apartment. Considering how high up she appears to be, this is definitely a hazard. What’s worse is that she isn’t even the only person this happened to. Multiple people also went to TikTok to share their experiences, with many saying their windows shattered.
The same thing happened to another woman, whose floor-to-ceiling windows shattered during the storm. Fortunately, someone came a few hours later to cover the opening with a piece of wood while a new window was ordered. This very same update was also made by Marin in a video showing a large piece of wood covering the area where her window used to be, with all the nearby furniture removed.
Chicago, Illinois Wind Storm Blows Up Windows
Many people jumped into the comments to give Marin advice about what to do in this situation, with one of the top comments saying, “Yeah that’s a lawsuit.” A lot of other comments were under the same vein, with another one saying, “Congratulations you now own the building.” One of the longest comments comes from an alleged former employee at a window company who said, “I used to work at a window company. In high-windy cities, they must install a grade of glass that can withstand such conditions. If they don’t, this is what happens: I would contact the city or county that issues the permits for installing those windows to find out the required grade. Then, I would have a city inspector come and confirm the grade. If it’s not up to code, they can face legal consequences, and you may have a lawsuit.”
Fortunately, it appears the city is doing what it can to ensure residents’ safety. However, it is unusual that many windows were not already installed correctly, given that they weren’t able to withstand specific wind loads. The incident has sparked questions online about how high-rise buildings handle extreme wind conditions in a city known for powerful storms.
