Fans started arriving in Downtown Cleveland's streets Tuesday night, some came home from out of town and filled the city's hotels.
RTA struggled to keep people moving into downtown all morning, with trains and buses overflowing. The parade was scheduled to start at 11 and make its way from the Q to 9th Street and eventually to Mall B near City Hall for a rally. That was the plan at least.
The crowds, predicted to be in the hundreds of thousands, blocked streets and made it impossible for the trucks in the parade to make their way through. Emergency dispatchers struggled to unblock traffic, make a clear passage for emergency vehicles to help people in need of it and to keep the floats moving so the Cavaliers could make it to the rally stage. Eventually dispatchers had to take the floats off the route instead of making the turn on Lakeside Avenue towards the Mall.
UPDATE 3:35 p.m.:
The parade finally reached Mall B for the rally after about four hours. Along the way, a bus shelter collapsed from people standing on top. There were a few reports of heat exhaustion, one man went into diabetic shock, a woman broke her arm, there was a fight near Public Square and Tower City shutdown because of high demand for restrooms.
