Record-setting rain in Chicago forced United Airlines out of its world headquarters in Willis Tower. Two weeks later, the building remains closed.
Heavy Rains + Flooding Hit Chicago, Including United Airlines
From May 15-17, 2020, heavy rains pummeled Chicago, totaling eight inches, that caused the Chicago River to surge and flood the downtown area.
Mighty Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), the tallest building in Chicago at 1,450-feet and 110 stories, did not stand a chance…
Flooding filled basement levels with water, knocking out power and forcing the building to bar tenants from entering. United Airlines, which occupies 850,000 square feet over 16 floors, is the biggest tenant. The flooding left United’s backup generators six inches underwater. Employees on duty were safely evacuated.
United Airlines Already Prepared For Flooding
Thankfully for United, the airline already had a back-up plan. All non-essential employees have already been working from home due to COVID-19 and United recently re-opened a backup operations center in Elk Grove Village, United’s former headquarters in suburban Chicago. This is officially called a “Network Operations Center (NOC)”.
Both work concurrently to monitor flights and handle crew and customer service issues. As a result, essential personnel were transferred to Elk Grove and operations continued uninterrupted.
United also has a small back-up facility on La Salle Drive in downtown Chicago.
A United spokesperson confirmed:
“As a result of interruption to certain Willis building services due to heavy rains, United employees have been instructed to work remotely. United’s flight operations have not been impacted.”
Building Remains Closed
That was in mid-May. We are now at the end of the month. Even so, Willis Tower remains shutdown. Power has still not been fully restored and water continues to be pumped out. In a memo to employees yesterday, United warned that its corporate headquarters would remain closed until “at least June 1, or possibly later.”
CONCLUSION
I am not a meteorologist, but I find it fascinating that eight inches of rain has resulted in a 110-floor building being shutdown for two weeks.
In the Hebrew Bible, God sent a flood to punish the world for its sin. Could this be a sign for United? 😉
In all seriousness, good for United for having a backup plan and suffering no operational interruption despite the unexpected flooding.
image: Potro / Wikimedia Commons
Why are we still calling it Willis Tower? Really, it should be renamed United Continental World Headquarters. 🙂
For perspective: Superstorm Sandy inundated lower Manhattan with an 8′ Storm surge. The building where my wife worked at 7 Hanover Square was flooded. All the mechanicals, network and electrical in the basement were flooded. It took 1 year for repairs to be done before office tenants could reoccupy the building.
I would not be surprised if it’s a similar timeframe in Chicago.
Wow…
That would have been salt-water flooding – far more damaging to electric equipment, and very difficult to dry out
Dave..Fair point.
It’s still the Sears Tower.
And George W Bush is still President.
Non sequitor says what?
Always. Me too
as a native Chicagoan, it will always be Sears Tower to me
Wonder if they’ll receive rent credits? Always wondered the strategy of UAL moving from Elk Grove Village near ORD to downtown Chicago. Maybe the property management team for Willis made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. I think they are now the only major US airline with HQ not located very near/adjacent to their home hub airport.
Only a short ride away on the CTA Blue Line.