What the heck is a Derecho?!?!

 

So- what is a Derecho?

A derecho is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms known as a mesoscale convective system and potentially rivaling hurricanic and tornadic forces. Derechos can cause hurricane-force winds, tornadoes, heavy rains, and flash floods.

Our winds were clocked at 140.  This was an inland hurricane which after assessing the damage has been classified as a Category 4 hurricane.  It absolutely slammed our city and it is going to take a long time to recover.  The damage, especially of the trees and wild life, will change things here forever.

I can't describe the damage well enough but it is August 22 and we are all still cleaning up. Like I said- we were the lucky ones. Here is what our mayor in Marion said, "
To our non-Iowa friends who might have no idea what’s been going on here in Iowa the past 10 days, I finally have a minute to breathe and share with you photos of Iowa’s derecho (hurricane on land), which occurred on August 10 and ravaged a large part of our state, with Marion/Cedar Rapids area being the epicenter of the storm’s fury. National weather service now estimates the winds, which uprooted trees, downed power lines and caused widespread damage, may have reached 140 miles per hour. 90% of our buildings in Marion have some damage. The storm caught most people by surprise. Nearly 600,000 people were left without electricity and still today tens of thousands are living without electricity and many lost their homes. Thousands of crewmen are working hard to rebuild the network and restore power. The impact of the storm goes beyond the estimated $4 billion in physical damage. 10 million acres of crops won’t be harvested. Families and small businesses already stressed by the impact of COVID now have to deal with recovery from this historic natural disaster. We’ve lost half of our prized tree canopy. The cleanup will take many months. Most of our streets are lined with mountains of debris, most street lights need repair and huge trees are still sitting on people’s homes."

 

People from all over the US have come to help with the cleanup.  Apartments were demolished, trailers flipped over, semi's flipped over- and now tent cities are popping up because people don't have a place to live.  National Guard finally came last week- FEMA arrived a couple of days ago.  Many still without power.