The raging winds of a rare derecho raged hundreds of miles across the Midwest on Monday, driving cars, damaging property and leaving more than a million without power.
The Storm Weather Prediction Center (SPC) of the National Weather Service (NWS) said Tuesday morning that the “intense derecho” of southeastern South Dakota traveled all the way to Ohio, a 770-mile road in 14 hours.
Along the way, the domestic storm produced widespread devastating wind gusts, including numerous storms over 75 mph – hurricane force – and several over 90 mph in central Iowa.
“There’s just destruction in the whole community,” Cedar Rapids City Manager Jeff Pomeranz told The Gazette. “This is a very serious event and we are taking every action to ensure that the city is restored to the best of our ability.”
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According to the SPC, there were several hundred reports of wind damage over the area and two reported tornadoes.
Estimated winds between 90 t0 100 mph were reported in parts of Iowa as the storm surge continued.
In the town of Linn, it was reported that several campers had blown up to rough seeds of more than 100 mph. Motorists conquered trucks throughout the state.
A grain elevator crashed in the city of Luther when the derecho blew to the east.
According to KCCI-TV, Boone County, where Luther is located, and cities including Ankeny, Johnston, Marshalltown and Perry were one of several areas under a “travel not advised” warning.
A grain elevator in Luther, Iowa, collapsed on Monday, August 10, 2020 due to the strong winds of a derecho.
(@MONASTiCNiCK via Storyful)
“Many communities have significant tree / structural damage. Traveling is impossible in some areas. Please stay at home and shelter in place so that emergency workers can work to restore power, ” said the NWS.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had “both significant and widespread damage throughout the city,” said Greg Buelow, a public safety spokesman.
A tree fell over cars at a home in West Des Moines, Iowa, after a heavy thunderstorm swept across Iowa on Monday, August 10, 2020, thundering trees, streamlines and damaging buildings.
(AP Photo / David Pitt)
The Cedar Rapids Police Department told KWWL-TV that about 50 people were rushed to hospitals with storm-related injuries. Police and fire crews also responded to some fractures and storm-related calls.
Tens of thousands of people in the metro area were without power after the devastating wind blew through.
“We have damaged homes and businesses, including siding and roofs,” he said. “Trees and streamlines run through the entire city.”
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Cedar Rapids released a 10-hour room Monday night that will continue until further notice as crews work to clear falling debris.
Dead trees and a utility pole for the home of Tim and Patricia Terres in Walcott, Iowa, after strong winds and heavy rain passed through the area on Monday, August 10, 2020 in Davenport, Iowa.
(Kevin E. Schmidt / Quad City Times via AP)
The Iowa Department of Transportation said multiple roads across the state were affected by downed trees, powerlines or inverted trucks.
“Please stay if you do not have to travel,” de Agency tweeted.
The derecho can be seen next to Woodridge, Ill., On August 10, 2020.
(Woodridge Police Department)
After Iowa struck, the storm system moved through Chicago and to Indiana and Michigan, causing more damage.
A downed tree shines on Monday, August 10, 2020, a driveway in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood.
(AP Photo / Tom Berman)
In northern Illinois, the National Weather Service reported a 92 mph vine near Dixon, about 100 miles west of Chicago, and the storm caused downed trees and streamlines that blocked roads in Chicago and its suburbs.
A part of a tree that split near the trunk is lying on a road in Oak Park, Ill., While also appearing to have not landed on a car parked on the road, after a severe storm through it Chicago area Monday, Aug. 10; , 2020.
(AP Photo / Dave Zelio)
Footage posted on Twitter showed part of a roof that flew out of a building on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.
After leaving Chicago, the most powerful part of the storm system moved through late afternoon across north-central Indiana.
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According to power outage tracking site poweroutage.us, more than 1.2 million people were initially affected by the storm system.
That number had dropped to just over 1 million on Tuesday morning.
The states with the largest number of outages were Illinois, Iowa and Indiana, where many residents reported cutting down trees.
MidAmerican Energy said nearly 101,000 customers in the Des Moines area were without power after the storm passed through the area
The strong wind over Nebraska knocked down trees and caused a trampoline to fly into one backyard of the Omaha resident.
Omaha Public Power Districts said Tuesday morning that outages are down to 4,500 from a peak of 57,000.
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According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), a derecho is a widespread, long-lived windstorm associated with a band of fast-moving storms like thunder.
The derecho can be seen next to Woodridge, Ill., On August 10, 2020.
(Woodridge Police Department)
“Although a derecho can produce destruction similar to that of tornadoes, the damage is typically directed in one direction along a relatively straight swath,” the NSSL states. “As a result, the term ‘direct wind damage’ is sometimes used to describe derecho damage.”
To define a cluster of thunderstorms as a derecho, a wind damage embankment must extend for more than 240 miles and wind gusts of at least 58 km / h lie over most of its length.
“This is our version of a hurricane,” meteorology professor Victor Gensini of Northern Illinois University told the Associated Press.
While a derecho has no eye when a hurricane and its winds collide in a line, the damage it does will likely spread over a large area such as a hurricane, as opposed to localized impacts of a tornado.
A downed tree shines on Monday, August 10, 2020, a driveway in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood.
(AP Photo / Tom Berman)
He said Monday’s derecho will go down as one of the strongest in recent history and will be one of the nation’s worst widespread events of 2020.
Other derechos have affected areas from Utah to South Dakota, the Mid-Atlantic Ocean and the Nashville area this year.
Monday’s storms can be compared to the devastating 2009 Super Derecho, which was one of the strongest on record and traveled more than 1,000 miles in 24 hours, causing $ 500 million in damage, widespread power outages and a handful of people. killed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
