A derecho is a widespread, long-lived windstorm that is generally accompanied by rapidly moving showers and thunderstorms.
The Weather Channel revealed Monday afternoon that winds as high 100 miles per hour impacted Nebraska and Iowa earlier that day, dumping buckets of torrential rain and aggressive gusts of straight-line winds onto areas such as Des Moines, Iowa - home to over 200,000 residents.
Marion Iowa tree falling at 6th Ave and 13th street @KGAN_Weather @KCRG @KWWL @gazettedotcom #Storm pic.twitter.com/aNKBu5M1KB
— ShabbyTrick (@shabbytrick) August 10, 2020
The storm sweeping across the Midwest right now is no joke— the scene from Iowa: pic.twitter.com/aN9v3b2cWA
— Jason Fechner (@jasonfechner) August 10, 2020
These are just some of the pictures sent in from our crews and viewers from the storm damage in central Iowa. 127,000 and counting without power in DSM metro. Watch for @weareiowa5news live coverage in all our nightly shows. pic.twitter.com/uY6HIzZ4Z8
— Sarah Beckman (@SarahBeckman3) August 10, 2020
The outlet reported that some 450,000 homes and businesses have lost power in the two states alone.
Several social media users took to Twitter to document the damage after the storm ripped through their towns.
Southwest Linn County hit incredibly hard as well. There's not a county road without damage. Power lines snapped, barns destroyed and corn flattened. #iawx #derecho @iowasnewsnow pic.twitter.com/AWI7Nlu6m2
— Nick Stewart (@NStewCBS2) August 10, 2020
2x4s punctured through a home in Perry 😳 #iawx
— Taylor Kanost (@WxKanost) August 10, 2020
📸: Jennifer Pickering pic.twitter.com/IgjgMcw99K
— NICK (@MONASTiCNiCK) August 10, 2020
Straight-line winds caused this damage in Newton #iawx
— Taylor Kanost (@WxKanost) August 10, 2020
📸: Gina Adams pic.twitter.com/vfxUgqmh4U
The storm is on course to hit Illinois, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service.
"A derecho will rapidly progress across eastern Iowa and northern Illinois this afternoon," the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said. "Widespread severe wind gusts, some of which should reach 80-100 mph are anticipated along [its] track ... Brief tornadoes are also possible."
IR satellite view of the nasty derecho moving into Chicago pic.twitter.com/TmtZIW3r06
— James Spann (@spann) August 10, 2020
The National Weather Service's Chicago branch reported "damaging wind gusts" of 72.5 miles per hour near Chicago Midway International Airport.
Hancock Hit at 423pm on Monday in Chicago #lightning #storm #weather #ilwx #chicago #news pic.twitter.com/P8SsS3VB9M
— Barry Butler (@barrybutler9) August 10, 2020
Social media footage of the storm's aftermath have begun to surface.
A lot of tree damage north of Chicago, a mix from the mesolow and the derecho. Roads in some places are impassible so that’s fun... I’ll continue to drive around and see what I find pic.twitter.com/bDhOeijDYd
— Kaylan Patel (@WxPatel) August 10, 2020
Many Midwest residents, including Des Moines-based reporter Dave Price, expressed on social media that they have not experienced a storm of this severity.
How widespread were these storms today in Iowa? 410,191 customers without power across Iowa per @mattbaker7. I moved here in 2001. I don't recall that many people without power from any one storm. @WHO13news
— Dave Price (@idaveprice) August 10, 2020
The Des Moines Register noted that a 2011 derecho left 24,000 Iowans without power and resulted in an estimated $5 million in damages.
