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Man's Missing Car Located Days After Blizzard

UPDATED 02/07/11 12:43 p.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The City of Chicago has finally located a North Side man's car, more than five days after he had to leave it behind on Lake Shore Drive during last week's blizzard.

Drew Siegert said the city called him Monday morning to tell him his car was parked at Broadway and Wellington Avenue in the East Lakeview neighborhood. The car was parallel-parked on the west side of Broadway, in a location with no parking lots in the immediate vicinity.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Steve Miller reports

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"I still don't know how it got there," Siegert wrote in an e-mail to CBS 2. "The location is nowhere near any of the city lots."

The car blended in with the others parked on the street, Siegert told WBBM Newsradio 780's Steve Miller.

"It looked like somebody had just gone shopping that day, and left it there, and there was snow on it," Siegert said.

The battery was dead and full of ice, but the city sent out a tow truck to give hum a jump.

"He said he would send a guy out right away, which I was pretty impressed with, since I hadn't really gotten any help earlier in the week at all," Siegert said.

Siegert, 26, had not seen his gray 2001 four-door Toyota Camry since 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, when city crews evacuated Lake Shore Drive.

Siegert told CBS 2's Vince Gerasole over the weekend that he had seen the coverage of hundreds of cars being towed off Lake Shore Drive and relocated to six city lots, where most owners were reunited with their vehicles. He checked every lot.

Siegert also said he checked the city's website that listed the rescued cars by license plate number. His was nowhere to be found.

On Sunday, he also said his many calls to 311 had gotten him nowhere. In fact, he said some staffers were rude; one hung up on him.

Up to 1,000 cars were abandoned on Lake Shore Drive during the blizzard Tuesday and Wednesday, after some motorists were stranded for 12 hours or more. Lake Shore Drive didn't reopen until the Thursday morning rush.

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