As I was driving two hours away from home to visit family, I knew I was leaving behind an oncoming storm. But, I never could have predicted the intensity and aftermath I would be returning to.
On August 10th, 2020, I left my home in Bettendorf, Iowa to travel an hour into Illinois, where I knew I was leaving behind an oncoming storm. But, I never could have predicted the intensity and aftermath I would be returning to.
Over my couple of days away from home, it was extremely windy but that was all. On social media, I was seeing a completely different story. Power was going out, trees were toppling into houses, bikes were flying into cars, and chaos was breaking out. When I returned home, I learned from the local news that what I had nearly missed was named a “derecho,” a storm that travels over 400 miles with periodic gusts of wind that travel at a minimum of 75 miles per hour (Stewart). I had never heard that term before, but very quickly became acquainted with it.
The August Iowa Derecho of 2020, named aptly for the location of the most damage done, caused over 12 billion dollars in damage and left multiple parts of the state without power for over two weeks. Peak wind gusts reached 140 mph in Cedar Rapids, an hour from my house, and lasted a total of 14 hours (Stewart). In total, the storm destroyed 2.67 million trees and affected over 56,000 acres of forest land (Goff).
When I arrived back home the next day, I personally saw how bad my hometown had been affected. Most of my fence had disappeared, the tree in my front yard had narrowly missed my bedroom window as it fell over, and debris littered the streets. As I drove past a friend's house, I saw a trampoline speared onto a street light. Power was also out for the whole town. Within the following day, it was gradually restored to some sectors, but the lower-class areas of Bettendorf and neighboring towns didn’t get power back for up to two whole weeks. My best friend ate and showered at my home for a week because she was living on non-perishables and didn’t have access to running water.
All things considered, clean-up didn’t take too long and, besides the lasting power outages, things began to return to normal fairly quickly. Houses were being rebuilt, streets were being cleared, and crops were being replanted. The new school year began to start up, and within that next month the derecho had started to become a geohazard of the past.
Goff, Thomas C., et al. “Rapid Assessment of Tree Damage Resulting from a 2020 Windstorm in Iowa, USA.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 29 Apr. 2021, www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/5/555.
Stewart, Nicholas. “Derecho Leaves Path of Destruction from Nebraska to Indiana.” KGAN, 29 June 2023, cbs2iowa.com/news/local/derecho-leaves-path-of-destruction-from-nebraska-to- indiana. Accessed 26 Sept. 2023.
I'm from Wisconsin, and I remember driving through Iowa during the summer of 2020 after the derecho happened. All of the destroyed trees and buildings along the road were really sad to see. I didn't know what a derecho was before that, but I had family in the area and I remember learning about how it affected them (they avoided the worst of it thankfully). Thanks for sharing about your experience!
ReplyDeleteGoff, Thomas C., et al. “Rapid Assessment of Tree Damage Resulting from a 2020 Windstorm in Iowa, USA.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 29 Apr. 2021, www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/5/555.
ReplyDelete^this citation pasted in black text, so here it is again