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A powerful derecho traveled some 200 miles through the Midwest on Monday producing 60-100 mile per hour winds with gusts of 112 mph, leaving over 1 million people without power and a tornado in Chicago.
A powerful derecho with winds in excess of 100 miles per hour tore across the Midwest on Monday leaving a 200-mile trail of destruction.
A derecho is a widespread and long-lived, straight-line wind storm that travels over long distances, typically hundreds of miles. Derechos with wind speeds of 58 mph or greater occur at least once per year in the Midwest.
While not a hurricane, as the storm has no eye, the winds come across in a line and can do hurricane-like damage, even more quickly than a powerful tornado, according to Patrick Marsh, science support chief at the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, Wood TV reports.
In Iowa, when gusts were recorded at 112 mph and higher. At times, the winds persisted in excess of 60 mph for 20-30 minutes straight, NBC News reported. The 100 mph winds were stronger than anything unleashed by the recent Hurricane Isaias.
The most significant damage was downed trees and power lines, which sparked fires in many areas, as well as blocked roadways. Travel was “not advised” in several cities. Reports of damage occurred in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
Damage also included vehicles flipped on interstates, widespread property damage, fields of crops were flattened, farm buildings destroyed, damaged grain bins, road signs were torn down, and roofs were ripped off of buildings.
There were no immediate reports of deaths from the derecho, but there were widespread reports of injuries. People were trapped in buildings and cars.
Officials are warning it could take multiple days to restore electrical service after the damage from Monday’s derecho.
Here are the latest figures on power outages as of Monday morning, according to poweroutage.us.
Situations like these emphasize the need to have cellphones, rather than wire-based land lines when you live in areas that are prone to severe weather, and especially where power outages frequently occur.
The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down on the north side of Chicago in the Rogers Park neighborhood before moving over Lake Michigan and becoming a waterspout on Monday, ABC 7 Chicago reported.
