Stranded motorists spend night in Batavia city council chamber

Bus 802 normally runs between Aurora and the Charlestowne Mall in St. Charles.

“I’m going to the Aurora Pancake House for breakfast, since McDonald’s and Burger King (in downtown Batavia) are closed,” he said. He was hopeful, because a bus had passed him heading north; he figured it would turn around.

His hope was denied, however. At 8:15 a.m. he was in the lobby of the Batavia Government Center, and said he had found out the bus was returning to its terminal.

Five people spent the night at the Batavia Government Center in the city council chamber. They had become stuck on an impassable Kirk Road, and Batavia police brought them in.

“I’m very cold and sleepy,” said Ariana Topps of St. Charles. She got off work at 10 p.m. Tuesday from her job at Protocol in Aurora. It took her nearly four hours to get from there to Hubbard Road on Kirk Road before police had her pull off.

“I was miserable all night,” her husband, Trenton Thompson said, who was at their St. Charles home. “I didn’t sleep at all. I was just worried about her well-being.” He picked her up in the morning.

“If I had a passport and the money, I’d be in Brazil,” Gaddie said.

Around 9 a.m. Wednesday, Panera Bread at 154 W. Wilson in Batavia opened. A manager could not speak with a reporter due to corporate rules.

Joe McWilliams and Ian Nix, two roommates who live on North Washington Street in Batavia, stopped by around 10:40 to get breakfast and lunch after shoveling their driveway — a bagel for McWilliams, a Fuji apple salad for Nix.

McWilliams jokingly said he gave up after five minutes of shoveling and let his roommate do the work, but Nix denied that.

“We shoveled. We drove. We did it,” McWilliams said.