Deadly derecho leaves path of destruction across Midwest, 800,000 without power

A derecho – a dangerous, ferocious wall of wind that's like an inland hurricane – lashed 700 miles across the Midwest on Monday, flipping cars, downing trees, causing widespread property damage and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands.

The derecho lasted several hours, traveling through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, a woman died at a hospital after firefighters pulled her from debris inside her mobile home after high winds rolled it onto its side Monday night.

A 63-year-old bicyclist also died after he was struck by one of several large trees that fell Monday on a bike trail outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, near Ely, the Linn County sheriff’s office said.

So far, dozens of injuries but no other fatalities have been reported.

As of Tuesday afternoon, over 800,000 customers were without power in the Midwest, according to Poweroutage.us. Most of the outages were in Illinois and Iowa.

Derechoes are often referred to as inland hurricanes due to their hurricane-like conditions, in terms of ferocious wind and torrential rain.

“People should take these storms seriously,” National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Barjenbruch said. “These winds are incredibly strong.”

Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini called the derecho one of the worst weather events in the U.S. in 2020. "This is our version of a hurricane," he added.

In order to be classified as a derecho, the storm must include wind gusts of at least 58 mph and its wind damage swath must extend from 250 to 400 miles. The term "straight-line wind damage" sometimes is used to describe derecho damage.

“They are basically self-sustaining amoebas of thunderstorms,” Gensini said. “Once they get going like they did across Iowa, it’s really hard to stop these suckers.”

In all, the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said there were over 500 severe-weather reports across the Midwest on Monday. This included a gust of wind in Midway, Iowa, that measured 112 mph.

Flooding, downed trees in Illinois

The storm hit Chicago in the early afternoon, prompting the National Weather Service to warn that travel plans be altered and loose objects be secured.

The storm brought winds of 92 mph near Dixon, about 100 miles west of Chicago, the National Weather Service reported, as it ripped through buildings, power lines and trees.

Downed branches and trees, flooding, car crashes, and road blockages were reported throughout Chicago and most of Illinois. Trees around 70 to 80 years old were torn to shreds by the high winds in River Grove, ABC Chicago reported.

People trapped in buildings, cars in Indiana

After tearing through Illinois, the strong part of the storm moved into north-central Indiana by late afternoon.

In central Iowa, several people were injured and widespread property damage was reported in Marshall County after 100-mph winds, homeland security coordinator Kim Elder said.

“We had quite a few people trapped in buildings and cars,” Elder said on Monday.

Elder said some people reported their cars flipping over from the wind; having power lines fall on them; and getting injured when hit by flying debris. Dozens of cars at one factory had their windshields blown out. Buildings also caught fire.

'Widespread crop damage' in Iowa

In the Des Moines area, more than 100,000 customers lost power as wind gusts reached 70 mph, the Weather Service said.

“It’s a lot of tree damage. Very high winds. It will be a significant effort to get through it all and get everybody back on,” said MidAmerican Energy spokeswoman Tina Hoffman.

Brianne Cummins, a hairstylist who runs her business out of her home, said she thought she was witnessing a tornado. She and a customer watched at 10:45 a.m. as the sky suddenly darkened and the wind picked up. The power went out.

A tree in Cummins' backyard fell onto her neighbor's garage, piercing its metal roof. Debris was strewn her street, which felt like the epicenter of the storm, Cummins said.

"It was like a movie," Cummins said, "because we saw these branches lift up at once and then just (were) thrown down."

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, tens of thousands also lost power. The city's public safety spokesman, Greg Buelow, said there was “both significant and widespread damage throughout the city."

In a Twitter post, the City of Iowa City shared a video of significant tree damage caused by the storm and asked residents, "Please: do not be out on the roads unless necessary."

Farmers in Iowa reported that some grain bins were destroyed and corn fields were flattened by the storm, and Iowa officials were assessing the total damage to its powerful agriculture industry.

“While we’re unable to quantify the number of acres lost at this time, we’re hearing of widespread crop damage,” said Keely Coppess, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. “We’re also aware of commercial and on-farm grain storage losses, which may affect storage capacity during harvest.”

Contributing: Ryan Miller, USA TODAY; Philip Joens, Andrea May Sahouri and Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Derecho: 'Inland hurricane' leaves path of destruction in Midwest