Community Chat

[CalminHeart]

the derecho hit my state hard this week. It looks like a war zone.

1. I went 3 days without power and that was nothing compared to so many in this state.  We still have 127,000+ without power.
2. 80-112 mile per hour winds in my Midwest state.
3. all the food in my deep freeze and refrigerator ruined.
4. found my deck furniture 4 yards down.
5. my medium sized debris covers the area between the sidewalk and street across the front of 3 properties.  Piles range from 3' to 5' high.
6. i have huge 18" limbs completely broken and now balancing across the top of trees.  I have huge limbs 10-14" diameter limbs hanging by a thread.  A good wind will knock them down...and probably on neighboring sheds and homes.
7. i have tons of twigs and small debris that has to be raked up. It'd take me a month and very sore back to pick it up.  
8. Thousands of acres of farm fields were destroyed.  Grain bins destroyed.
9. so many homes and buildings across the state were destroyed 
10. internet is still out in most parts of the state.

In my 66 years, this is the worse storm I've seen.  It makes 24" of snow with high winds seem like a breeze.  

[VaBelle35]

We had one in the DC area maybe 10 years ago?  It is quick and deadly.

I had never heard of it before then.

Prayers to you and your neighbors that you get through it quickly.

[Susan-QVC]

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@VaBelle35 wrote:

We had one in the DC area maybe 10 years ago?  It is quick and deadly.

I had never heard of it before then.

Prayers to you and your neighbors that you get through it quickly.

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@VaBelle35   I remember that one, hubby & I were caught out driving, it was like an action movie playing out, transformers blowing, it was something I had never expirenced before, super scary

[dooBdoo]

I'm sorry, @CalminHeart.  That's so frightening.  I'm glad you're okay...  I think we can't go through such an experience without being changed, but we summon up what gratitude we can find and forge ahead with hope.  Prayers for you and everyone affected by the scary weather.  (((hugs)))

[4kitties]

@CalminHeart 

I live in Central Illinois and we got some of it too.  But nothing like what happened to Iowa.  

It hit us so very quickly.  All of a sudden WIND!!  Took out a lot of mature trees in my area.  We lost a few large branches and a smaller dead tree to the back of our property.  No structural damage for me.  Lost power for about 4 hours.  Not much rain but that WIND!

A few years back an F4 tornado took out a good portion of a small city nearby.  I know how devastating it was.  

My thoughts and prayers for all impacted by this storm. 💕💕

[songbird]

The firs time I ever heard the word was in 2015 when a Derecho slammed in to my state.  Three straight lines of supercell storms arrayed neatly, perfectly placed lines of them. Then the lines would "bow" out in the middle. Even the thunder sounded different.  Instead of rumbling, they were sharp bangs.  Like a giant gun. Bang, bang, etc.  It was just about the only time I was frightened of a storm since I was a little kid.  Later I head what it was and that it happens sometimes in the mid west.  It's somewhat rare once you're past the two vertical mountain ranges (Rockies & Appalachians) But it can happen anywhere. this is straight wind shear as opposed to rotating winds that form tornado.  one thing for sure...North America has the most violent weather in the world.

This is a typlcial Derecho

[dooBdoo]

I'm glad you're okay, but sorry you had to go through this, @4kitties.❤️ 

[Kachina624]

@CalminHeart    It's very sad to hear about the devastation you've suffered.  I heard about the storm on TV but nobody else here has mentioned having been in it.  Can you hire someone to get the broken branches down and help with the clean up?  We really didn't need another disaster this year.  Seems like it's been one thing after another.

Sounds as though you're not too "calm in the heart" right now.

[cyan]

  We had a Derecho here in my part of Michigan in 1998.   Thankfully have not had one since,but just hearing the word mentioned, panics me.   We missed getting hit by the one last week by a couple hundred miles!

      In 1998, we had huge oak tree limbs down all over the place, it did look like a war zone.   We were without power for 8 days.........I pray I never see another one!

       My prayers and thoughts are with everyone that went thru this last one......I know your pain!

[4kitties]

@dooBdoo 

Thank you.  My area was lucky and was minimally impacted.  But Iowa truly suffered the worst of it.  When it got to Illinois, mostly the northern half of the state was hit.  We were kind of on the southern edge of it.  

And we did not suffer the long power outages like @CalminHeart  did.  Mr. 4 kitties and I got all the twigs, leaves and branches cleaned up so we are okay now.  

The poor farmers sure had a lot of crop damage.