An interdisciplinary team of civil, geotechnical and electrical engineers, and urban and regional planners will gather essential information on the underground flooding in the Loop of the city of Chicago caused by the failure of one section of an old freight tunnel on April 13, 1992. The team will collect information on the tunnel grid where the event took place; soil conditions during and after the break; sequence of events leading to the failure and subsequent flood; effects of the flood on the electric power system and other services; buildings and structures affected; short and long term repair and recovery measures. The gathered data will provide benchmarks for testing and improving models for managing the urban infrastructure, assessing the potential consequences of similar failures, and identifying possible preventive and remedial measures.
