As if 2020 couldn’t get any wilder, a sporadic weather event ravaged the Midwest last week, damaging thousands of homes and businesses while uprooting countless residents. Known as a “Land Hurricane,” the 800-mile wide storm pummeled Iowa and nearby states for nearly 14 hours. More commonly recognized as a derecho, the straight-line storm was an intense, widespread, and fast-moving thunderstorm comparable in strength to a tornado or hurricane. Cedar Rapids was one of the hardest hit towns, as many residents remain in the dark without power.
“It was like the whole storm that was 70 miles across was a tornado. The whole thing,” said Nikki Wims of Cedar Rapids. “And it just hammered and hammered and hammered.”
Source: CNN
Land Hurricanes, such as these, are a complex line of bow-shaped thunderstorms that run in rapid succession of one another in a single-stacked formation. As opposed to tornados, which are much more short-lived events, derechos can pulverize a region with sustained gale forced winds for hours at a time. When last week’s derecho finally relinquished its titanium grip on the Midwest, an unrivaled path of destruction was strewn about the midwestern landscape.
“This wiped out our entire county,” said Cedar Rapids Mayor Brad Hart. “There was no power in the city and much of the county, people didn’t have cell service. The streets were impassible. It was horrific. I lived in Houston and I lived through some hurricanes, so some describe this as a land hurricane where we had these sustained winds for 45 minutes. It just didn’t stop. And that doesn’t happen in Iowa. We have tornadoes, and the path of tornadoes … is much more narrow.”
Source: CNN
Although Cedar Rapids residents had an advanced storm warning of 20 minutes, many residents were hopelessly unprepared for the sheer magnitude of this impressive storm. Unlike tornados, derechos, or Land Hurricanes, are slow moving storm systems that cover large swaths of land. Although residents had more than enough time to seek shelter, many could not find adequate protection.
“I was in my car. I got down underneath my floorboard and covered my head … this is real, this is crazy,” said Wims. “We just rebuilt from the flood of ’08 and now we are going to be doing it all over again.”
Source: CNN
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