Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the third-most populous in the United States, after New York City and Los Angeles. It is also the most populous city in the Midwestern United States. As the seat of Cook County, the city is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, one of the largest in the world.[1]
Coverage[]
Chicago is featured in the documentary and Outbreak while it is also settled in Waves of Devastation.
It was introduced in 1 day after people when there is no one to maintain the Wrigley Field, the Sears Tower or the John Hancock Center which stand as giant tombstones, and the Chicago River as well.
In 2 days after people, the Asian carp continues its shocking invasion and they're making their way into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal where man made it's last stand against the Asian carp. Any fish approaching the part of the canal are in a nasty shock because of a series of virtual fences were built by the Army Corps of Engineers to create an electric current in the water.
The controlling works collapse.
In 3 days after people, a rainstorm hits Chicago and without people to manage the Chicago River, the river takes its revenge. Richard Lanyon stated that the entire river system would fill up gradually, flood low areas in downtown Chicago, and the basements of the buildings along the river. Soon, the high river levels begin surging through south along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal towards the gates of the Lockport controlling works, where the cascade of water dropping on the downstream side erodes the piers holding the gates up and the days when man controlled the river are over.
In 1 week after people, the emergency generators that have kept the electric barriers buzzing have their generators to consumed their last drop of fuel and the pathway for the Asian carp to the Great Lakes is wide open.
Chicago burns in a wildfires.
In 1 year after people, triggered by lightning strikes, the wildfires rage unchecked causing Chicago to burn. Meanwhile, plants are on the rise like at the ivies of Wrigley Field which begins to extend it's green tendrils. Without groundskeepers, the ivy threatens to overrun the whole stadium but each vine can only grow to a maximum of 50 feet, however, as the vines shed their leaves each winter, the organic materials sticks into cracks in the brick and concrete where it decomposes into soil which in turn creates a higher platform for new vines to sprout. At the edge of the Chicago River, the Asian carp hasn't enter Lake Michigan because there are still other man-made barriers blocking their way to the Great Lakes including the Chicago Harbor Lock.
In 3 years after people, after several changes of season, a weakness in the very center of the Chicago Harbor Lock is providing an opening. Gregory Vejvoda stated that the rubber seals would be the first to break down because ice rips the seals off without much of an effort at all. Where the seals were, thousands of smaller Asian carp stream through the 6 inch gap and into the lake with it's enormous food supply.
Wrigley Field is overrun by ivies.
In 5 years after people, the ivy has crawled up and blanketed the stands of the Wrigley Field but the true victor in nature's race to reclaim the stadium are buckthorns, spread by birds by consuming a crop of buckthorn fruit and disseminate the plant. Without maintenance staff, buckthorns quickly fertilize and begins sprouting that can grow to 10 feet tall.
In 10 years after people, the Sears Tower is slowly deteriorating from rainwater rotting the roof of the structure. Moisture seeps down the structure which begins to rust the bolts holding the glass and aluminum panels on the exterior and along with the freezing wind, rain, and snow off Lake Michigan that violently batter the hulking structure, some of the plates peel off the building and crash into the streets below.
After 5 decades of wild growth, Wrigley Field is almost unrecognizable. The giant 85 foot wooden scoreboard is being repel by ivy and the scoreboard crumbles under a siege of termites. Meanwhile, tangled thick nets of buckthorn have grown to 20 feet high which blanketing the playing field.
The Chicago "L" collapse.
In 100 years after people, the Chicago "L" has been disintegrating for decades where paint is peeling off the steel girders holding up the platform and rust is eating away at the exposed iron and steel causing the bolts and rivets to erode, crack, and the supporting beams fracture. Matthew Kubik stated that as pieces start to fall, there'll be distortion in the supporting members because it'll have a domino effect as it starts to twist and fall which hits the ground.
The Sears Tower collapse.
In 200 years after people, decay has overtaken the city of Chicago. Closer in, the Sears Tower is beginning totter as decades of ferocious weather have battered the landmark into a hollowed out husk and examine the 104 separate lifts within multiple shafts, ending in different levels of the building, the cables corrode and gives way, where the two lifts connecting the ground floor to the observation deck, which free falls from the top floor hitting the ground at more than 200mph, generating more than 1 and a half million pounds of force on its impact. However, the real Achilles heel of the Sears Tower are the 8 floors underground which will fill with water from the Chicago River that would weaken the lower interior columns supporting the building. This cause the Sears Tower to collapse where it falls all at one time into a giant, heaping mass of twisted metal, concrete, and broken glass wreckage, which cascade and solidly impacting to the ground.
The John Hancock Center collapses after 250 years.
In 250 years after people, the John Hancock Center is still standing but after 250 years of moisture corroding its steel framing, something must give way. At the corner of the 85th floor are the several crucial beams converge and once it rust, bend, and fracture from the stream to water dripping down through the roof and at a critical nook, a final beam cracks and shears off. The 15 floors above start a corner line cascade down the building which sets off a catastrophic floor-by-floor implosion of the whole edifice and the John Hancock Center collapse.
Transformation[]
The only evidence of the transformation of Chicago is in both 200/250 years after people where visually, plant life starts to cover the entire city of Chicago, and possibly the rubbles of the collapsed buildings. Wrigley Field would be overrun by ivies and buckthorns and some areas of Chicago like the city center would be flooded periodically from the Chicago River, submerging the underground/basements. It is only speculative (as mentioned at the epilogue of Outbreak) if Chicago would return into a forest filled with mountains that is once a rubble of the skyscrapers.
Gallery[]
