I still have PTSD from that day. One thing you really can’t get from video is just how dark the sky got. Cameras pick up more light than the human eye. I was hauling a light load from Beloit to Davenport and this beast caught me crosswise. My weather app was screaming about tornados but couldn’t show me where it was. Had no idea it didn’t matter which way I went, there was no escape. I was facing south when this thing slammed into me from the west. I still cannot believe my rig stayed up in that monster with only a 7k load. It got so dark and rained so hard I couldn’t see anything beyond my windshield. Called my husband because I realized not seeing him or my kids again was actually a possibility. When the sky lightened up again, the highway was full of flipped semis, cars, power lines, and debris and somehow by the Grace of God, me and my dumbass load of Chi Chi’s corn chips were fine. 2020 was one incredibly fucked up year.
I was in it. Scared the hell out of me. It came in two waves. It started with instant heavy rain and within minutes the first hit of wind hit me. I’m a long distance truck driver and was heading west approx 20 miles west of Des Moines. When the first wave of wind hit me , it lifted the passenger side tires of my trailer right off the ground and moved me over a full half lane. I thought I was going over. I tried to pull over under an overpass but there were already three cars and pulled over onto the shoulder of the get on ramp and rode it out. I was lucky. Where I pulled over , there was a ridge with trees on top of the ridge that helped block the wind. These reporters are right, it lasted at least 45 minutes. In my 50 years on the road, I’ve never seen anything like this. When it finally died down , I got out and walked around my truck , checking for damage. No damage but the complete side of my truck and trailer were plastered with leaves that had been ripped off the trees beside me. After about an hour I proceeded west. There were 5 tractor-trailer units on their side as I proceeded towards Omaha. Shook me up, big time.
It was strange compared to other storms or derechos I've been through. Usually the big rush of wind is at the front of the storm. This one the wind didn't get intense until maybe 5-10 minutes after the shelf cloud had passed. It had weakened overall by the time it go to us but it was weird. At first I thought oh it must be dissipating then 10 minutes later it was here and my neighbors entire privacy fence just went. I think our highest wind gust was 82 so not quite as bad as everyone in Iowa experienced
Yes buddy I remember the 1998 derecho that devasted upstate New York . It also had winds over 100 mph . Several lives were lost in and around Syracuse . I remember seeing houses without their roofs and thousands of trees blown down .
Last year we also had a derecho here. It was luckily nothing compared to what happened in Iowa but it was still very intense and caused a lot of damage. This derecho had very similar weather conditions to the eye wall of a hurricane and that’s why they compare the derecho to a hurricane. For future reference, avoid going under overpasses. Winds accelerate through overpasses making it even more dangerous.
I thought I'd just peek over here for a few minutes of this video. Stayed for the whole thing, on the proverbial edge of my seat. Horrible storm; great video.
I was in the same boat. I'd never even heard of these things! I'm from California but I've got friends in Iowa and if I would have known, I would have checked on them afterwards. 😔
32:34 - The storm's physical edge can literally be seen moving across the landscape and towards the camera. Its arrival is so sudden and intense that it pushes up a visible wall of debris out in front of it as it plows through the air.
"I looked out the window and everything was green." The sky going green is something you never forget. It's a shade of green that just looks wrong, like it shouldn't exist. It feels primal. Only seen it related to tornadoes in person, but it'll stick with you. 1:01:17 is some of the craziest footage. That happens so fast once the wind finds a way in. Glad people were okay.
@@BiologicalClock Grew up in Virginia and Texas and I can agree with this. Another incredible thing about derechos is how difficult they can be to see though. Tornadoes typically have a wall cloud, a mesocyclone, when a derecho hit in Virginia while I was there the sky was clear and suddenly I was being blasted by 40-60mph wind
I was on my lunch break that morning and got a text from my mom, who lives 30 miles West of us, to get home to the kids a really bad thunderstorm was hitting them and was headed our way. I remember being worried it was a tornado so I ran home, grabbed the kids, and took shelter in the storm cellar. I never envisioned being hit by a inland hurricane. The intense freight train noise lasted for almost an hour. Those on the coast are given 4 or 5 days to prepare for something like this, imagine given 4 or 5 minutes.
This is exceptionally well made. I came here expecting to fast forward through most of the video, but found myself watching the whole thing and rewinding for much of it. Its super emotional and well thought out-you can tell that the person(s) who made this care about their work. 10/10, one of the best documentaries I've seen.
But there is, "Oh my Goh," then silent. Some was, "Oh my God," then silent. Then, "fuh." ALL coming from the same heart, that was the icing in this cake.
Hey everyone! After quite a bit of feedback, this is a new edit of the previous Iowa Derecho: In Their Own Words which significantly reduces the clock ticking. Regarding the storm sirens, they are also "as it happened" and it is the full duration via Scott Zimdar. I left in fully in to really help put you on the ground in Cedar Rapids as the storm approached. I appreciate the feedback, hopefully you'll consider giving this a watch to learn more about the costliest thunderstorm in US history.
I appreciate you sharing this because I gave up on Facebook, news sites, etc., for much of the second half of last year due to Trump fatigue and the insanity of people ripping each other's throats out online over wearing masks, so I had NO idea that this insane storm had even occurred. I hadn't even heard of a derecho before, either. Thank you for educating me and I hope everyone affected in Iowa has had lots of caring and support.
Well done. A compelling watch. I had watched a few of the videos after the storm but it was hard due to some blank spaces. You made me want to watch all the way to the end. The destruction is mind boggling.
Thanks for the good documentary. Thunderstorms developed in northeast Wyoming and moved along the Nebraska-South Dakota border overnight . Warnings were in effect for northeast Nebraska and South Dakota by daybreak , and when the storm accelerated and took a right turn I suspected a Derecho , because as a weather observer and storm spotter I have been in these storms before. The morning was sultry and the storm moved so fast the weather service could hardly keep up with the warnings. It got dark with steady lightning and a nice shelf cloud as a wall of wind and rain plowed through, As some writers noted, Omaha got little rain but a fair amount of damage, our daughter and son in law in Omaha lost much of a fence and part of a roof. Our wind reached 70 MPH and unlike in more southern areas , .90 inch fell on us. We needed the rain. We had a little hail, but much less severe than what struck farther east.
I’ve rode through some hurricanes with equal or greater winds living on the coast, but we get days to a week to prepare. I couldn’t imaging that same storm popping out out of nowhere with only an hours notice if that much. Just wow.
We didn't have any notice in Ames. Or if we did, I didn't know about it. We had a severe thunderstorm warning where they said they expected high winds, but that was all they told us in the weather alert we received on our phones. We were shocked by the winds when they arrived.
We had virtually no notice in Cedar Rapids unless you just happened to be watching local weather on television. Even then you can see how they were thrown off guard by the severity of it. We are used to storms with high winds but for very short bursts and not this high for 40 straight minutes. Usually something will pop up on our phones for warnings, but nothing! In the middle of a Zoom meeting. We didn't get sirens here until a minute or two before the storm and we live in a valley, the sky looked normal! Until it suddenly didn't. Even with tornadoes we get a lot of time to prepare.
I did all I could to prepare for this monster. I cleaned up the garage to put the car away, picked up anything outdoors that could be blown around, warned everyone I knew. I stood at the front window and watched it roll in from the west. The best way I could describe it was watching Hell manifest and overtake the sky, it was darker than anything I’ve seen in my life for a summer day.
I hear you Jim I lived in Charleston SC when Hugo plowed us. I was an electrician at the time so you can imagine how busy I became. My God give y'all what you need to make it through. The next year or more will be rough for so many. Ask know I know lol🙏🙏🙏
I went through hurricane Fran that plowed through Raleigh NC. That's pretty much exactly what we went through. Only difference is that it was at night and it lasted about 8 hours. Scariest thing I've ever been through!
I was babysitting when this happened (in belle plaine Iowa). I literally just got back from the store with pizza for the kids when it hit. 2 tornado sirens before I even made it in the house. We holed up in the basement, and could see out the basement windows how bad it really was. Trees falling all around town, the earth shaking. It was very terrifying. And I've been in a tornado. This was multitudes more scary. our town had no power for 2 weeks after that. Thank goddess for the kindness of the neighbors.
Distract the kids with the pizza i hope. I used to drive cross country and once i came across a tornado mano y mano.. i was in my truck at a truck stop when the rain came in hard. Suddenly tornado sirens went off as a ups truck pulled in and stopped in front of me. Me and the other drivers next to me started shouting at the guy to run to our trucks for safety.. my truck was mostly safe because i was loaded and heavy. I was taught in severe wind to park and dump the air suspension to make my truck solid like a brick and minimize the risk of tipping over. The ups driver froze and when the tornado passed through it dragged his truck over into a ditch and off into the field adjacent to the truck stop.. it was a category 2 tornado, after it passed me and a hand full of drivers ran over to the field to find the ups truck sitting on its back door with the headlights pointing to the sky and the driver still in the driver seat just freaking out.. he definitely had his brown pants on that day..
I've been through... quite a few Hurricanes and Tropical Storms and that looked worse than most and as bad as the worst I've seen. It was probably worse since we knew what was coming and ya'll had no clue how bad it really was until it was on you.
Hello from Texas, where we get weather just as bad as this but for some reason don't have basements. They tell us to get in our bathtubs, I guess so they can locate the bodies easier.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I've been through two tornados and a microburst with 100+mph winds. Surprised to hear that this was worse than a tornado in your experience. Seems scary.
I also want to give HUGE SHOUTOUT to the lady who was more worried about her goats than anything else. I'm so happy you got those kids and kept them safe. I know when we had our storms my husband held on to me and my cat tight, but goats aren't usually on that list of animals that ppl tend to worry about more than themselves. Those are adorable goats and I am happy you and they got through this OK.
As an individual who's occupation is Disaster response I must disagree with your opinion that people do not care for the animals in their care, weather it be pets livestock or an itergral part of their business ( horse ranchers or sustainable farmers). During situations like this and others like floods wildfires and tornados one of the first things these folks due is to check on the safety of their animals and my Team and I often find that these animals and their famlies are their top priorty. In the last two years the firm I work for has started to augment certain frontline teams with a trained Vetrinarian who is on call for us to call upon and enter a disaster area with our team who along with our Pararescue element works to treat any injuries to humans and their animals. I know of at lest two Hotshot groups comprised of six to eight crews that have full mobile vet clinics as part of their support group, next to the loss of a human family member one of the hardest things to do is look in the families faces and try to conosole them as you explain you found one of their beloved animals or pets and that they could not be saved.
yeah, animals have always been a scary concern for me when tornadoes or even hurricanes happen. It's honestly sad and I hate how helpless they may be during disasters. Glad that lady cared enough about her animals too
@@jericho1-4 Agreed! With the Abbotsford flooding a month ago, MOST farmers were out there taking the best care of their animals that they could, or helping neighbors, offering barns, etc... No sign of PETA of course th-cam.com/video/9feJDYfKMe8/w-d-xo.html
@@Rx7man I've never in my 12+ years working in the disaster response field seen PETA or the M/SPCA at any disaster, though their quick to show up along with a bunch of youtube and celebrity "animal rescue" personalities to file charges and fine the owners for abuse and mistreatment to run their propaganda ad fundraisng schemes days later. They are never there when the farmers ranchers or pet owners need them the most. About a year ago we were doing SAR in preperation for a full evacuation of a location that was danger close to a massive wildfire. We came up on a cuddlesac with three homes one of which was an elderly couple who were just finishing loading what their vehicle could carry so we checked in with them to see if they had seen either of their neighbors recently. as our team leader was talking to them we could hear a cat meowing like crazy, the elderly woman said it must be their neighbors cat they had gotten the new litter of kittens out but couldn't find the mother and the sheriffs deputies were pushing them all to leave the deputy left to check one more home up the side of the mountain less than ten minutes away and said we (the elderly couple) had better be gone when he came back. We found the lightly singed cat by the neighbors front door and took it with us and escourted the elderly couple back to the main road where we were flagged down by the deputy relayed our findings during our SAR sweep of our sector and all of us moved out while in route we relayed to incident command that the fire was going to crown over the left side ridge and to pull the crews or they would get caught in a firestorm. When we got to safe zone two of our team to the cat to get seen by a vet as her breathing sounded labored and was a concern, about an hour later we bumped into the elderly couple who had called their neighbor to tell them their cat had been found so our team leader asked for the cell# and went to retrieve their cat from the vet. What we thought was a reputable vet turned out to be some halfassed pet rescue for profit outfit that had youthanized this families cat claiming it had been too badly burned to be saved. We all knew this was bullshit and at worse the poor cat had smoke inhilation as it was only slightly singed and that was most likely from flying ambers so our team leader asked to see the cat as we had brought it in and knew it hadn't sustained serious burns, not the kind these people were claiming. Turns out the were doing this to animals with no confirmed owner on sight to cut cost. Our team leader lost his shit and slugged the vet knocking him out cold and called the sheriff to report what we had found out, the fucked up thing is nothing they did was against the law if you can believe that yet we were all cited with assault and battery disorderly conduct and filing a false report. So its been our habit to tell folks to only take their animals to vets they know and trust as these out of towners do more harm than good
Dude Brendan seems like he's just the most chill dude! His business is literally just collapsing around him and he just says "Ohhhh jeeze. Ooohhhh man."
I was in Galena, IL that day, and drove all the way back to Kankakee, IL through the heart of the storm. The 3 1/2 hr drive home took 8hrs, and near the end it looked apocalyptic with the intense rain and tranformers blowing all around. It was pretty terrifying.
Thank you for putting this edited video out. Very hard to watch the whole thing. Definitely makes you relive that day. I will never forget it. I feel for the people who were alone during it. Scariest storm I've ever been in.
For the painter hiding in the bathroom, that was me while hurricane Charley hit Punta Gorda FL. When you have to shove with all your might to open the bathroom door because it's blocked by debris even big chunks of glass embedded in it and all the place is gone but the room you were in. You thank God!
@@ButBigger42 - if God saves us from everything... how do we learn and adapt to it. If a child falls off a bike you help them once or twice no always. Or else how do they learn? Think before you speak, Sir
Damn! Thanks for all this footage. I hope you’re all ok. Brendan McCormick had that camera fixed on that Corvette - not gonna lie I shouted when the roof came down on it. Maybe more than Brendan. And who built that bathroom! Dude deserves an award. The girls at the news room were fabulous. Awards for you too! And that policeman- so dedicated. You all of you braved the storm and held on - to goats and doggies even. Beautiful people. I’m going to now binge watch the aftermath.
Brendan is an awesome guy. We had him paint our condo after the derecho so we could sell. We told him it was help him replace his car (which was ultimately totaled).
I remember this day very well,I remember me and my mom preparing for the storm before it hit.And I remember our backyard fence being completely blown down.During the storm I had to go out during the worst of the storm.I also remember after the storm how my whole community came together to help pick up each other's damage.
You guys love Iowa and the communities you serve. this film goes from "storms a brewin' and winds are blowing " clear up to an almost Alfred Hitchcock ending. Point well made- you guys stuck it out not knowing exactly what was coming. I salute your courage and professionalism. Good teaching tool.
That’s what I miss about living up north, having a basement! Or a storm cellar. I was born and raised in Nebraska and have seen some whoppers. Seen and been in some bad storms here in Tx too. What never gets old is seeing your dad or husband at the front door giving everyone a blow by blow of the storm!
Haha this hasn't changed. Just selflessly did this for my wife a month or so ago. Getting an earful about it just makes it that much more exciting though.
Lived in various places along the gulf coast for 35 years, with plenty of tropical systems, including CATs 1-3 hurricanes, and power losses exceeding 6 weeks. But down here we get at least a few day's warning, have generators, and know what to expect and how to prepare. I can't imagine having virtually no time to prepare for something like this. Must have been frightening.
Tornadoes here in the Carolinas usually hit with very little warning and some have been extremely devastating . People in this derecho counted trees and missing shingles . That is a blessing when you consider entire neighborhoods being flattened in my state in 1984 and 2011 from huge tornadoes .
It was crazy. I just remember sitting at the window looking South and watching it in Davenport, Iowa. It just went on and on. I was so proud of Iowa the next day just teaming up to get things cleaned up and back to order ASAP... I LOVE IOWA.
@@Blue_Bird_Vision_5 I got brought here when my Dad was in the Med for a year during the Iran hostage scenario. I thank God all the time of giving me the gift of living in Iowa. What a great state!
Really incredible documentary. The calm from the all the professionals that kept giving updates and advices to the population probably saved lives that day. Props too to all the first responders and great humanity that people showed in that awfull storm. As someone who experienced his first Derecho 3 weeks ago (and it was nowhere as huge as this one), I can only be compassionate to all of the people who went through that.
I live in NE Cedar Rapids just north of the Hiawatha border the wind here was like 112 we lost power for 10 days and like 20+ Trees. 4 of the biggest trees uprooted and fell that were over 150 ft tall Pines. Luckily none fell directly on the house. Thanks for making this BTW as I was disgusted at the lack of national news coverage of the storm that felt like a disaster movie.
I lived through it. The aftermath was the really bad part. The whole region was absolutely devastated. No electricity, no gas, and no food available for weeks. There were no gas cans, chainsaws, or generators for sale anywhere in our half of the State (assuming you could even get there). It was just weeks of playing 'frontier lumberjack' as we went around in volunteer crews cleaning up downed trees, taking a cold shower, and reading books by candlelight. The rest of the summer the air was full of mold and there was a cash shortage. 0/5 Stars, would not recommend.
Very well done video. Insane...at 73 years of age and living in Louisiana I have seen high winds and fierce weather, but never have I seen anything like this inland. Sustained winds in excess of 80 mph can be devastating....but this, unreal. These are straight-line winds...you don't see these in hurricanes. This is a jetstream on the ground. The guy in the shop with the Firebird really kept his cool pretty good when the building finally surrendered to derecho.
I was driving a truck across 80 at the time, I saw the storm chasers drive by, I saw the phone give emergency notifications, especially for the nearby fair. I'm glad I pulled over and parked, it was pretty blowy for about an hour, it almost tipped
I picked up in Worthington MN, heading to Ohio, that morning and had just hit the Loves in Floyd, when my dispatcher ( who is in Omaha) calls me and orders me to shut down. It was hitting marshalltown about then. When he said "I know you're from Texas and driving in a Hurricane may be normal to you..." That got the message across real quick. The next morning going through Cedar Rapids and seeing a couple dozen trucks knocked down was eerie. Glad the boss stopped me as I would have been south of Waterloo when it hit.
That was quite a storm! I never knew that there could be inland weather patterns like that- So many people doing the best the could in a very bad and unexpected situation. The hiker fella was very blessed to have been allowed in that basement where it was safe, even if it was crowded with poor ventilation. Dude.... I know it was stressful but count your blessings.
We just had three bomb cyclones and an atmospheric river come through here. I’m in a small town on Vancouver Island in B.C. Canada and the damage is crazy. We have cities underwater, about a dozen major highways closed due to damage, flooding, and mudslides etc, and we have a lot more water coming. I feel for anyone that’s suffered losses of any kind due to Mother Nature. I’m fortunate that we have a roof over out head and food in our bellies, and all our friends and loved ones are fine. This event in Iowa must have been terrifying and I feel for you all. 🇨🇦🇺🇸
Hi neighbor 👋🏼 I live in Whatcom county Washington and the storm really scared me too. But we have been spared what the rest of the country has gotten as far as disasters so I don’t complain much other than concern for our washed out roads and struggling families. So I kinda feel like it’s just our turn to get some natural disasters our way. Very scary but definitely predictable. Have you seen the Fifth Estate documentary video on TH-cam about the Fraser River valley? Omg it terrified me! I had no idea how vulnerable we all are to flooding 😟 yet somehow it’s not been this bad til now. Really something
@@CrystalMouse1 I'm near Lytton, and the devastation of the roads is unbelievable.. especially Highway 8.. first Fire, then this... I have been relatively unaffected by either, but there were tense moments for sure
I don't know if Iowa has any state-wide media awards, but I can't see how this wouldn't win Best Documentary if they do. VERY well done' the variety of footage, and the different personal perspectives kept me watching the whole thing...and I'm from Texas, never even been to Iowa. Congrats on a fine piece of work.
Jesus christ, its literally a hurricane on land. But even more terrifying because these things can create tornados. I dont know if hurricanes can do that, but if they can, jesus christ.
@@JohnsonArmsProps He made it through the storm. Here is the full video of him, It's called TRAPPED INSIDE AN INLAND HURRICANE - Iowa Derecho 2020 th-cam.com/video/x8SrU-EgVf4/w-d-xo.html
I was in one of these in 1993 in Hendricks County, Indiana. It was incredible, we parked the car in the midst of some trees because you couldn't drive in it. When it was over the ground was white with hail, we had to drive through 3 counties to find our way home. Cut the corn down to a foot high, whole fields. Amazing to have been through it.
@@dirkdiggler9379 actually, I looked up what he was saying and it is exactly the same. It's listed as a Derecho in the Central Plains, July 8-9 1993 and is on the north American list of Derechos. I understand you believe this was the only terrible event to happen and that it was intense and scary but don't try to minimize what someone else went through because it's literally recorded history that both are recorded Derechos. A simple Google search revealed that. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_derecho_events
I noticed that too. Ours do not sound like that here in Ohio. I think I will write a letter to someone. I want more musical sirens. It might calm some of the terror when they go off.
If you look up tornado sirens harmonizing, there's a bunch of videos from Iowa City of this happening. I've heard it myself and it's amazing and seems fairly unique to the siren combination that IC uses.
I've been through tornadoes before but nothing has even compared to this storm I live in the country near des moines and I watched as trees toppled over, silos collapsed, and my shed get blown to bits. It was truly a terrifying storm of incredible proportions
It's still intolerable because of the tornado siren. Like whoever originally edited this needs to be burned at the stake. Everything possible to enrage the viewer.
Thank you for the evident care and skill in putting this together. You've well captured the collective experience not only of Cedar Rapids, but of so many other cities and towns in Iowa. I live in Marshalltown and after the F-3 tornado of 2018, I can tell you that nerves were quite on edge on August 10th. And they remain so anytime the air gets still and the sky turns angry. I still grieve the lost trees and in addition to planting more, as I think the whole state has done, this year I put a celebratory ribbon of one of the few of ours that survived both 'wind events'.
We traveled through Cedar Rapids over to Ames 10 days after the derecho and were just stunned by the scope of damage. My wife is from Cedar Rapids and our son lives in Ames. On the day of the storm he called us saying the tornado sirens were going off and he was seeking shelter. I'm a former TV News producer and this documentary is definitely deserving of awards. Great job to everyone who put it together.
At 41:58.......WATCH! This is a very well researched production! By far the best I've seen! Kudos to all involved; I know that when it happened, this Columbus, WI man (me)...was very concerned for the loss of crops that Iowa farmers no doubt incurred. Not to mention all the other destruction that happened as this freakish storm made it's way across your state and into Illinois and Wisconsin. By very, very far, though, Iowa was on my mind! I pray that a storm of this magnitude does not sweep your state again.
Great vid! At the time of this storm, I was on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip from Washington State, to Illinois. I really lucked out when I made a snap decision to turn south at Lincoln Nebraska and not drive across Iowa. This storm would have been hell to see approaching in my rearview mirror.
That meteorologist did a great job! Very clear communication and she seemed to know which source was important during particular parts of the broadcast. Very professionally done
This was very interesting to watch. Thank you! My friend group had just been talking about derechoes about a week ago. We've never had one here in central Oklahoma, thank goodness! Tornadoes are bad enough. I was able to just watch for curiosities sake, until the sirens went off in the video. Instant tears and anxiety, but not your fault 😒 I grew up in Moore Oklahoma and live about 20 miles from my childhood neighborhood now, so PTSD kinda kicked in. I knew I was ok, and so were the people I was watching, but that visceral fear will always be there. Much love from Oklahoma!
He handled it very well, with just the right amount of freakout combined with curiosity. Though I would have closed that door a little faster at the end.
we've been through Wyoming/Montana when the rain came down so hard you couldn't see the end of the station wagon hood, so dad stopped the car and hit the flashers...when it stopped we were less than 2 feet from a car we never knew was there. AWESOME Video!!!!!!!!!!!
Great production! I agree with the others’ comments regarding quality editing. I was unaware of the event under my rock here in New England so this was really fascinating and very easy to watch the way everything was presented. Thanks !
Dont feel bad. The news didnt talk about it and neither did googles news feed. I was in NY at the time, but my family in IL knew nothing about it. Communication about this event to the rest of the country was pathetic, imo.
I've been through every kind of intense weather you can imagine (and some you can't) but you KNOW you're in the sh!t when mature trees and bushes are being debarked in front of your eyes.
An interesting thing I noticed was without the swirl like a tornado has, things with overhangs and cars fared better. More knocked things over and popped roofs than the updraft. No semi trucks flying through the air. Both certainly catastrophically destructive, but just different. It had to be about 60-100 miles deep and 800 miles wide though so that's a huge difference. You can often skirt a tornado if you're going perpendicular to it and it's not close yet, but you can't outrun 800 miles wide. Yikes.
Been through a derecho, thought not as violent as this one. It really is like an inland hurricane. Extreme straight-line winds over a very wide area. More stuff flattened than the huge clouds of debris a tornado kicks up. We were out of power for about a week as many trees and power lines were knocked down.
@@johnmeador56 Not really. In the eye of a hurricane the winds aren't high because the wind is swirling outside it. In a Derecho, the wind is pushing forward in one direction more like a really strong jet stream wind. lol
@@imscanon Definitely really. Been through a hurricane _eyewall_ (not the eye/core, which is what you’re talking about) when younger visiting family down in SC despite being on the outer edge of the storm. The derecho I went through was just as intense and long lasting as that band, probably worse as the derecho I experienced was in the immediate impact areas along the band. It’s why a derecho is described as having hurricane-like intensity with winds and damage. It’s definitely not because of the eye where it’s calm for a brief period, it’s because of the walls it’s compared to…
I went through on in 2012 and it did not cause any major structure damage it just took tree branches off. No rain fell. I think it was late June 2012 and it was the first time I heard the term derecho used for that kind of storm.
I got stuck outside in 2012 when I got locked outside my place of employment under emergency shutdown. Department of Defense contractor with chemicals capable of taking out 3 city blocks. I had SLIPPED outside to smoke and got locked out. I spent the entire storm stuck in a 3 sided metal smoking block building. Was first I knew of a derecho. 14 hours to get home from work that night where so many trees were down. No power for 9 days in HOT HOT weather.
I recorded it as it came through St Louis-thought We witnessed something Unusually wicked. Your storm makes ours look like a garden variety shower. My hearts pounding just watching from the comfort of my couch (with Bose speakers for awesome sound)
This video popped up as a suggested watch, so I did, out of curiosity because I have family in Cedar Rapids. Ended up watching the whole thing, most of it with my mouth hanging open. In. Sane. Very well done documentary.
I didn't see the original video, but this one was great! The paint shop guy has ice water in his veins. I thought that when I saw his video last year and I still believe it today. All he said was "Oh no." For those of you that have been through a hurricane this won't seem like much--light Cat 2 but for IA who can deal with tornado's because they blow through fast, a sustained high speed wind is devastating.
Yeah, Hurricanes are an absolute bitch. It hit last August 27th, we’re still not back in our home. It DEVASTATED lake Charles, Sulphur, Westlake, Moss Bluff, Carlyss, Hackberry, Cameron, Vinton. We lost damn near everything, not to mention our house was downwind from a chlorine release from a local plant damaged by the storm. So, being unable to get to our house to at least tarp it due to the shelter in place for 36 hours, it rained 3 times during the release. Our entire house was further damaged by chlorine mixture with rain causing a form of hydrochloride that just destroyed all of our possessions. The house couldn’t be breathed in. THEN, the insurance company had to be sued because they just, we’ll take my word for it they screwed us.
Right lmao Iowa doesn't have a building code requiring those hurricane brackets or whatever they're called the metal pieces they use on ever joint of the building
I’m in Florida and I’m terrified of tornadoes but not hurricanes they aren’t that big a deal to me anymore . U learn how to deal with it and u have everything ready cause u know it’s probably coming , if it doesn’t great but always prepared . Tornadoes are the scariest
@@OCDustin We didn't even take any damage other than loss of power during that hurricane you are talking about. Live outside Alexandria. However my insirance company as well as every company within the state refuses to cover our homes anymore due to hurricane risk. They dropped our policy. I am now insured rather badly through my mortgage company. No other option available means I just have to take the screwing.
The thing is, you get days or even up to a week of warning with hurricanes. With tornadoes, we usually get an average of a couple minutes. With the derecho? Well, Cedar Rapids and Eastern Iowa had about 2 hours warning - and their warning came from those of us in Central Iowa. I live in Ames, IA. We knew there was a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and that "high winds" were predicted. We had absolutely no idea it would be what we got. I was standing in the glass entry way at the doctor's office when the winds first picked up. It didn't take us long to realize we needed to get the hell away from the glass. There was absolutely no warning for just how severe the winds would be. And then we didn't get electricity back for a week - lots of rotten food got thrown out. And for ppl who live in apartments like ours? All we had was an electric stove/oven. We couldn't cook anything and didn't have any kind of stockpile of non-perishable goods that don't need cooked. We went through the few boxes of crackers we had pretty quick.
South Louisiana here and this was well done. The storm was the same as a hurricane although the wind blows all day and night but I’ll take the hurricanes over the tornadoes. The water rising because of the torrential rains is always an issue along with the days and weeks without electricity. Fortunately most of us have generators. I hope I have some insight into Hurricanes without minimizing what you all went through. I can’t imagine having no time to prepare. All the best!
I’ll tell you this. The generators sold out, soooo fast. As did chainsaws. The lines for gas was miles long and took hours to even get some if there was even any left. 95+ degrees. Humid as can be. No power for 12 days for myself. That was one of the worst times ever. I will say. It brought our community together, neighbors. Skin color, race, politics, everything. It didn’t mater. Proud to be an Iowan.
Thankfully with a hurricane we've got a reasonably good idea where it's going 4 - 7 days out. I can not imagine the combination of having hours warning and the fact that this is so far out of the normal for the area that people weren't thinking about how bad it was going to get.
This is what irritates me. People that didn't experience this storm like to downplay how bad it really was. I'm not saying you are at all. I'm just talking about people in general. Do hurricanes along the coasts suck? Yes, they do. But people living in hurricane zones have a fair amount of warning before the hurricane hits. The infrastructure is also built to withstand hurricane force winds. We had zero, ZERO, warning about how strong of an impact this storm was going to be. Cedar Rapids is still picking up the pieces 1.5 years later. Some spots here in Des Moines are still showing remnents of the derecho. I forget what the estimated loss of crop was, but it left a dent in Iowa's agriculture profits for that summer. Corn was almost ready to harvest at the time the derecho hit. At least 25% of corn fields in the state were flattened. I've never been scared of a storm before. I usually go out to my car to watch the storm as it rolls by. I legit was huddled in my bathroom worried s''tless that my apartment building was gonna collapse from the wind forces. Or the roof was gonna get blown off. I live on the top floor of my building. There is no basement where I live. I probably would've ended up dead had the windows or roof blown open.
I've lived thru Katrina and Ida, multiple tornadoes in Louisiana and Texas, and a major earthquake in Mexico City. You can't compare the experiences. They are all terrifying and horrible in their own, unique way.
Great job in making this documentary. I drove head long into a Derecho in Virginia back in 2002 I believe. The radar showed an arrowhead signature coming at high speed toward the Prince William County area. We met up with it and it was on us in seconds. Frightening!!! Everything was going sideways, including my car.
This is the first I've heard of this horrifying, devastating event. This documentary is excellent. I feel terrible for the people and animals that went through this. I can't imagine actually feeling it there, but the video is certainly alarming.
@@Petalflipper i never said anything about damage being caused or injury occurring. I stated that from where I reside....It wasn't that bad. Meaning other areas/people probably have a different opinion and others may have the same.
@@thehorseman1806 I've witnessed many of tornadoes living in Iowa. I don't get scared by some wind much. This s''t about gave me PTSD and made me realize how fragile life really is.
We were there, working at Adventureland Amusement Park in Altoona and were staying in the campground. It was terrifying. The strongest gust recorded in the Park was 107 mph.
Fantastic production...STUNNING and SCARY FOOTAGE...BRAVE news reporters, police, and those who videoed Mother Nature's temper tantrum. SO GLAD that young man in the work garage was smart enough to stay in the bathroom. Hope he's still o.k. 💖
This edit shows the news reporters giving some live examples to viewers how dangerous the storm was as it came toward them. Thank you! This shows how hard those Two were multi tasking in the studio.
Can't believe its already been a year. You can still see the effects of this awful storm to this day. Its the reason I look out the back of my apartment and see what was a large garage that now looks like a glorified parking lot. Seeing several signs still messed up and parking lots with lights still on the ground. Seeing that we are supposed to get some crazy weather tonight, I just hope we won't be seeing a round 2 any time soon.
I just noticed today the best buy sign back up. Idk when that got put back up probably awhile ago because I'm not over there much but it's little things like that that make me happy to see. Plus not seeing so many tarps on roofs..
Here in Roland, Iowa, we have a designated spot for storm debris now, because of that derecho. In fact, there is still a bit of left over debris form that storm. It's wild.
I was in CR when the derecho hit. I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal and was kinda irritated because I thought it was gonna make me late for work. Didn’t realize all the damage that was done until I was making my way to work which turned us all away because they shut it down because of the storm. Finally got back to my apartment and noticed there a bunch of pretty big trees down on a street adjacent to my apartment building and one big one that landed on top of a minivan on my street right next to my building. Trees and powerlines were down throughout all of Cedar Rapids and Marion. There was a truck on it’s side over by the Hyvee on Collins Rd, the Best Buy sign was mangled and bent over at ground level, etc.. Lost communications, no internet, and no electricity for days. Cold showers are not fun. Never got a straight answer from Alliant Energy about the power. It all just sucked! I was in CR for the flood of ‘08, too.
I just ran across this video. Thanks for creating and sharing. I live in Grinnell and experienced this storm 1st hand. My employer lives in St Louis and I had a hard time convincing them of the extent of the storm damage and why I was without power for a few hours shy of a week. Amazing video. I hope this is a one in a lifetime event.
I lived in Marion, Iowa at that time. My daughter called me and said a derecho like storm was approaching very fast. It was here before I made sure my windows were safe. I was not scared in the least until it was over. The damage was horrific. I think they had clocked the wind at the Marion airport at 120mph. No basement in building,and I was living in a second floor apt in a senior housing center. Not in my 76 years at that time had I ever experienced a storm like that. I watched multiple trees go down and one flew over eight cars. Now when they mention storms I am fully aware of the consequences of that day on August 10th.
i live in Marshalltown, Iowa. the was very intimidating it almost felt like a tornado. I had tree land right above where me my son slept. we've never been so scared to sleep in our own beds so much. since then the tree branch was cut down. Our towns cemetery was the worst of the town. I've seen something like it before that happened. the images of just the trees rocking back and forth knocking against my windows, me and my cat were running back and forth throughout my old apartment so astonished as to what was happening. The sound of the wind was intense too.
We just had this exact phenomenon in Ontario this past weekend. I had seen this video before a few times and it was something to see my area clobbered by the same thing! Never have I seen a power pole snapped in two, 50-60’ mature evergreens uprooted and tossed, etc. The only storm that was worse was our ice storm which was oddly no wind, crackling of branches breaking and transformers sparking big silent otherwise.
I live in Des Moines, and while the storm was pretty bad it wasn't yet at peak intensity when it roared through the area. My hometown, Cedar Rapids, got the worst of it though. The worst part for me wasn't the storm itself, but rather, the aftermath. Nearly two entire weeks with no power in the sweltering August heat, all-but murdering my freshly bought groceries and turning my apartment into the sauna of death! It was so bad that I was forced to take refuge at a friend's place. The stars were pretty at least.
Absolutely incredible documentary!! I had seen some of the footage shown here before, but having it all sequenced in realties time gives a much better reality as it was happening.
An amazing film giving great insight into what it’s like to experience such a storm. I live in the UK so I have no experience of weather events such as this and was amazed by the power of the winds. We had a storm in 1987 that was extremely bad but it happened of a night thank God and we just woke up to trees down roofs off etc.
We were at Oskaloosa , in our RV, and we were protected by a large building, but we watched everything around us just blow over and away. I've been through 3 tornadoes, but this scared me worse than those together.
I was lifted from the ground in a tornado and carried a good distance before being being thrown into a cyclone fence in Oklahoma years ago. When it happened the wind came up in just seconds from nothing to insane speed. I think of it as the scariest experience of my life.
@@janet202 I gained a unique perpective of the world in general and a healthy respect for 200 mph winds you could say from the experience. Yep... I still get goose bumps thinking about it and it happened thirty something years ago.
Thank you for this video. My husband's 96 year old grandmother lived through this. She lived alone on a hill just north of Toledo, IA city limits. The storm took most of her house right off the top of her, as she prayed for deliverance. She was unharmed, other than being extremely shook up. She said the winds hit so suddenly that she had no time to get to her basement. The house started shaking and she made her way into her bedroom, knelt by her bed, then the roof and some of the walls were wrenched from the house. She lived for a little over a year after that but it seemed to really take it's toll on her. Watching this footage from so close to her home gives me an idea of what she went through. What a terrifying storm.
My son lived in Msrshalltown when it hit. He was there when the tornado hit the courthouse was hit by a tornado a year or so before. I was watching from central ILL. I was monitoring the radars. I was about 25 miles from the Lincoln ILL station as it sent signals into Iowa.
I was in a derecho back in 2012 in WV. Had never experienced anything like it prior as we don’t normally get wild weather events like that. The sky went from daylight to a greenish grey color before going completely dark. Lost power as soon as the rain started … we knew just half a mile away something bad happened if it went out that quick. Traumatized our whole community with all the damage it did. We still have trees going flat in one direction over the mountains a decade later. Was our son’s earliest first memory: hunkering down with a blanket over us, hearing our windows shake as we heard trees falling all around us. We were not equipped to deal with such a thing, and all I could do was cover him the best I could in case of the worst. Sounded like a bunch of trains going by the house. I’ll never forget the eerily calm feeling in the air and the silence after it passed. Walking out our door and shining a flashlight around us (was at the edge of dark) to see how close we were to trees falling flat on us near our home. No vehicles out anywhere, we had no power … could only see flashlights all over the community and people yelling “you okay??” after a few minutes of intense silence. I still have a mild freak out when high winds are expected with heavy storms. Haven’t experienced anything like it since, and hope like crazy I never have to go through it again. We were without power for 2 weeks, many places closed due to it, food ruined, not many had generators at the time … Army Corps had to come in and remove hundreds of trees from the roadways due to us being trapped both ways in and and out. We’re definitely prepared now in case it ever happens again, but we’re all hoping it never does.
Wonderful real time documentary I watched a lot of the footage when it happened last year but there was some I haven't seen before I am a bit of a natural weather geek I find the power of nature very humbling and it can put us humans in our place I am really into a volcano erupting in Iceland right now so well done and thanks again from Melbourne Australia 🌏⛈🌪🇦🇺
I first heard about this from a TH-camr in Ames. As a wannabe storm chaser, I found this INCREDIBLY fascinating and VERY well put together! No wonder it was nominated for an Emmy. This has already been saved to my Weather playlist.
That was crazy!! The guy at the end in the bathroom, I hope the walls and roof kept in tact until the end of the storm. Hurricane winds that’s for sure. That’s a lot of damage. Just incredible.
I'm really thankful for this documentary, more light had to be shed on the situation and you guys did great on it. I was at the Adventureland Campground in Altoona Iowa when the system literally came barging in. As someone who can actually predict weather by looking at the clouds, I knew something was really off about four hours before the system came in due to a specific characteristic I saw in the altostratus clouds. But as someone who was suffering from stomach ulcers at that moment, I couldn't gather enough energy to run over to the park to warn my coworkers over there which is something I still regret to this day. But as the storm came in, everything just changed so quickly that it was hard to describe. That one moment, you could see the shelf cloud come in as the winds completely died down, then the next, you were pelted by rain so hard that felt like you were being pelted with ice as the winds nearly knocked you off your feet as you were blinded with dust in your eyes. Fragments of branches were flying all around me as I saw a tent fly right between two cars in front of me, luckily getting itself stuck. To this day, those images are still fresh in my mind like it just happened yesterday. We also had a rumor going around that the wind monitor on the Storm Chaser ride recorded wind speeds up to 107 mph.
I remember sitting in the living room talking to my room mate when it hit. We lived behind Wilson Hy Vee. That was bad. Watched all the beautiful trees get torn apart, all sorts of stuff flew by the window. The wind almost popping the glass right out of the panes, disturbing to see that too. The afterwards when wilson was impassable. All that damage.....
Really good. I remember when the sirens went off my wife got me downstairs and I thought out 6 year old home was being ripped apart. So much noise a very long half hour here in Carroll our power stayed on and it really started to gain steam as it passed so much damage nit only here but all over Iowa. Not to mention the Crop losses it was so costly, great job with your documentary .
A month before this in Southeast PA we had a derecho come thru here that had 85 mph winds, took out power to 500,000 customers and killed four people. That storm lasted about 20 mins and the 80+ mph winds lasted for about 15 mins. This storm made that one seem like whimper. Pretty sure the National Weather Service shortly after these events happened upgraded the severe thunderstorm warning to the extremely rare high wind warning which is only used for 115 mph and higher storms, usually in hurricane eye walls of category 3 or greater.
The fact that they mispronounce it in the Midwest probably has something to do with that. Dare-etch-oh is the given Spanish pronunciation. Dare-ay-she-oh is how midwesterners say it. Don’t ask me why.
I'm only halfway through viewing this and WHOA! Kudos to the whole team that put this together for us to reflect on and make preparations for the next big event. A family member did a FaceTime call from Grimes, Iowa during this incredible event. Having lived there and been close to one tornado out near Adel in Dallas County, I was still shocked by the intensity of this derecho. Interesting to hear from those who experienced it first hand. I felt like I was there, right in it, but it was so much worse in person. Scary weather events are happening far more often. Heard tornado warnings as a kid living in Alabama. You never forget the sound. Stay weather aware.
As a South Florida resident, it would be TERRIFYING to have a hurricane hit us with an hour's notice. I'm assuming these things don't last for hours or days.
this storm only stayed in one place for a small period of time. storm was moving extremely fast. by the time it got where i lived about 70 miles west of chicago IL. the storm had weakened. but still brought hail, strong winds, and tornadoes, which were all rated EF-1 if memory serves me right. one was only 6 miles from my house
@@malachiszarafinski541 Like a really wet tornado. when hurricanes come, you get all your loose items stored or tied down, windows covered and animals sheltered. I can't imagine the carnage!
Wow. Completely absorbing documentary. I had no idea that the more northern parts of the USA could be affected by these sorts of storms. And the scale of it, and that people have just an hour or even just a few minutes warning. Now that is scary!
I still have PTSD from that day. One thing you really can’t get from video is just how dark the sky got. Cameras pick up more light than the human eye. I was hauling a light load from Beloit to Davenport and this beast caught me crosswise. My weather app was screaming about tornados but couldn’t show me where it was. Had no idea it didn’t matter which way I went, there was no escape. I was facing south when this thing slammed into me from the west. I still cannot believe my rig stayed up in that monster with only a 7k load. It got so dark and rained so hard I couldn’t see anything beyond my windshield. Called my husband because I realized not seeing him or my kids again was actually a possibility. When the sky lightened up again, the highway was full of flipped semis, cars, power lines, and debris and somehow by the Grace of God, me and my dumbass load of Chi Chi’s corn chips were fine. 2020 was one incredibly fucked up year.
I have PTSD from this too. I am now terrified of storms
Me too
It was like night.
Really??
So both of you are actually diagnosed with PTSD???
@@RJB1218you’ve been diagnosed with PTSD???
I was in it. Scared the hell out of me.
It came in two waves. It started with instant heavy rain and within minutes the first hit of wind hit me.
I’m a long distance truck driver and was heading west approx 20 miles west of Des Moines. When the first wave of wind hit me , it lifted the passenger side tires of my trailer right off the ground and moved me over a full half lane. I thought I was going over.
I tried to pull over under an overpass but there were already three cars and pulled over onto the shoulder of the get on ramp and rode it out.
I was lucky. Where I pulled over , there was a ridge with trees on top of the ridge that helped block the wind.
These reporters are right, it lasted at least 45 minutes.
In my 50 years on the road, I’ve never seen anything like this.
When it finally died down , I got out and walked around my truck , checking for damage. No damage but the complete side of my truck and trailer were plastered with leaves that had been ripped off the trees beside me.
After about an hour I proceeded west. There were 5 tractor-trailer units on their side as I proceeded towards Omaha.
Shook me up, big time.
It was strange compared to other storms or derechos I've been through. Usually the big rush of wind is at the front of the storm. This one the wind didn't get intense until maybe 5-10 minutes after the shelf cloud had passed. It had weakened overall by the time it go to us but it was weird. At first I thought oh it must be dissipating then 10 minutes later it was here and my neighbors entire privacy fence just went. I think our highest wind gust was 82 so not quite as bad as everyone in Iowa experienced
If you knew the direction of the wind, you could have pointed the nose of your truck into the wind and limit the risk of flipping.
Yes buddy I remember the 1998 derecho that devasted upstate New York . It also had winds over 100 mph . Several lives were lost in and around Syracuse . I remember seeing houses without their roofs and thousands of trees blown down .
Last year we also had a derecho here. It was luckily nothing compared to what happened in Iowa but it was still very intense and caused a lot of damage. This derecho had very similar weather conditions to the eye wall of a hurricane and that’s why they compare the derecho to a hurricane. For future reference, avoid going under overpasses. Winds accelerate through overpasses making it even more dangerous.
I am thankful you are okay.
I thought I'd just peek over here for a few minutes of this video. Stayed for the whole thing, on the proverbial edge of my seat. Horrible storm; great video.
yeah great video
I was in the same boat. I'd never even heard of these things! I'm from California but I've got friends in Iowa and if I would have known, I would have checked on them afterwards. 😔
Same!!
lol same
Me too exactly.
32:34 - The storm's physical edge can literally be seen moving across the landscape and towards the camera. Its arrival is so sudden and intense that it pushes up a visible wall of debris out in front of it as it plows through the air.
Yeah, that was surreal. I almost wanted a whole video of just that camera.
Yes, that was really eery.
"I looked out the window and everything was green." The sky going green is something you never forget. It's a shade of green that just looks wrong, like it shouldn't exist. It feels primal. Only seen it related to tornadoes in person, but it'll stick with you.
1:01:17 is some of the craziest footage. That happens so fast once the wind finds a way in. Glad people were okay.
⛈🐅🌧🐅🌧🐅⛈🐅🌧🐅🌧🐅⛈
Rain and hail inside !
1:01:20 better call Geico!
Yeeep. I grew up in Nebraska and am VERY familiar with the green/brown air when a tornado and/or hailstorm is coming.
@@BiologicalClock Grew up in Virginia and Texas and I can agree with this. Another incredible thing about derechos is how difficult they can be to see though. Tornadoes typically have a wall cloud, a mesocyclone, when a derecho hit in Virginia while I was there the sky was clear and suddenly I was being blasted by 40-60mph wind
I was on my lunch break that morning and got a text from my mom, who lives 30 miles West of us, to get home to the kids a really bad thunderstorm was hitting them and was headed our way. I remember being worried it was a tornado so I ran home, grabbed the kids, and took shelter in the storm cellar. I never envisioned being hit by a inland hurricane. The intense freight train noise lasted for almost an hour. Those on the coast are given 4 or 5 days to prepare for something like this, imagine given 4 or 5 minutes.
Stop using that reference for the sounds…
@@JessicaRodriguez-zy5gz Have you ever been in a tornado or hurricane?
That's exactly what it sounds like. An out of control Freight Train.
@@JessicaRodriguez-zy5gz why? I've lived through a tornado and that is a very good description of what it sounds like
@@sheilamarie1481 I've never heard a freight train so I don't understand the analogy.
@@pierrecausemybladdersempty1678 for those of us that have never heard a freight train it is impossible to have a frame of reference
This is exceptionally well made. I came here expecting to fast forward through most of the video, but found myself watching the whole thing and rewinding for much of it. Its super emotional and well thought out-you can tell that the person(s) who made this care about their work. 10/10, one of the best documentaries I've seen.
Same here
I came here just to see that Vette get trashed at the end.
But there is, "Oh my Goh," then silent. Some was, "Oh my God," then silent. Then, "fuh." ALL coming from the same heart, that was the icing in this cake.
😥
I did fast forward. The one weather girl didt give commentary as good as the residents. Great video.
Hey everyone! After quite a bit of feedback, this is a new edit of the previous Iowa Derecho: In Their Own Words which significantly reduces the clock ticking.
Regarding the storm sirens, they are also "as it happened" and it is the full duration via Scott Zimdar. I left in fully in to really help put you on the ground in Cedar Rapids as the storm approached.
I appreciate the feedback, hopefully you'll consider giving this a watch to learn more about the costliest thunderstorm in US history.
I appreciate you sharing this because I gave up on Facebook, news sites, etc., for much of the second half of last year due to Trump fatigue and the insanity of people ripping each other's throats out online over wearing masks, so I had NO idea that this insane storm had even occurred. I hadn't even heard of a derecho before, either. Thank you for educating me and I hope everyone affected in Iowa has had lots of caring and support.
This was an excellent watch 👌
Very well put together, watched the whole thing.
Well done. A compelling watch. I had watched a few of the videos after the storm but it was hard due to some blank spaces. You made me want to watch all the way to the end. The destruction is mind boggling.
Thanks for the good documentary. Thunderstorms developed in northeast Wyoming and moved along the Nebraska-South Dakota border overnight . Warnings were in effect for northeast Nebraska and South Dakota by daybreak , and when the storm accelerated and took a right turn I suspected a Derecho , because as a weather observer and storm spotter I have been in these storms before. The morning was sultry and the storm moved so fast the weather service could hardly keep up with the warnings.
It got dark with steady lightning and a nice shelf cloud as a wall of wind and rain plowed through, As some writers noted, Omaha got little rain but a fair amount of damage, our daughter and son in law in Omaha lost much of a fence and part of a roof.
Our wind reached 70 MPH and unlike in more southern areas , .90 inch fell on us. We needed the rain. We had a little hail, but much less severe than what struck farther east.
I’ve rode through some hurricanes with equal or greater winds living on the coast, but we get days to a week to prepare. I couldn’t imaging that same storm popping out out of nowhere with only an hours notice if that much. Just wow.
We didn't have any notice in Ames. Or if we did, I didn't know about it. We had a severe thunderstorm warning where they said they expected high winds, but that was all they told us in the weather alert we received on our phones. We were shocked by the winds when they arrived.
Good point
We didn't have any notice outside of the normal serve thunderstorm warnings in Des Moines.
We had virtually no notice in Cedar Rapids unless you just happened to be watching local weather on television. Even then you can see how they were thrown off guard by the severity of it. We are used to storms with high winds but for very short bursts and not this high for 40 straight minutes. Usually something will pop up on our phones for warnings, but nothing! In the middle of a Zoom meeting. We didn't get sirens here until a minute or two before the storm and we live in a valley, the sky looked normal! Until it suddenly didn't. Even with tornadoes we get a lot of time to prepare.
People who were in the Carolinas during the 1984 tornadoes had only seconds warning before the giant storms hit them .
I did all I could to prepare for this monster. I cleaned up the garage to put the car away, picked up anything outdoors that could be blown around, warned everyone I knew. I stood at the front window and watched it roll in from the west. The best way I could describe it was watching Hell manifest and overtake the sky, it was darker than anything I’ve seen in my life for a summer day.
No one even knows what to comment... that's how nutz this was
I had never heard of this!
I hear you Jim I lived in Charleston SC when Hugo plowed us. I was an electrician at the time so you can imagine how busy I became. My God give y'all what you need to make it through. The next year or more will be rough for so many. Ask know I know lol🙏🙏🙏
I went through hurricane Fran that plowed through Raleigh NC. That's pretty much exactly what we went through. Only difference is that it was at night and it lasted about 8 hours. Scariest thing I've ever been through!
Sending prayers to you all🙏🏻✝️
I was babysitting when this happened (in belle plaine Iowa). I literally just got back from the store with pizza for the kids when it hit. 2 tornado sirens before I even made it in the house. We holed up in the basement, and could see out the basement windows how bad it really was. Trees falling all around town, the earth shaking. It was very terrifying. And I've been in a tornado. This was multitudes more scary. our town had no power for 2 weeks after that. Thank goddess for the kindness of the neighbors.
Distract the kids with the pizza i hope. I used to drive cross country and once i came across a tornado mano y mano.. i was in my truck at a truck stop when the rain came in hard. Suddenly tornado sirens went off as a ups truck pulled in and stopped in front of me. Me and the other drivers next to me started shouting at the guy to run to our trucks for safety.. my truck was mostly safe because i was loaded and heavy. I was taught in severe wind to park and dump the air suspension to make my truck solid like a brick and minimize the risk of tipping over. The ups driver froze and when the tornado passed through it dragged his truck over into a ditch and off into the field adjacent to the truck stop.. it was a category 2 tornado, after it passed me and a hand full of drivers ran over to the field to find the ups truck sitting on its back door with the headlights pointing to the sky and the driver still in the driver seat just freaking out.. he definitely had his brown pants on that day..
I've been through... quite a few Hurricanes and Tropical Storms and that looked worse than most and as bad as the worst I've seen.
It was probably worse since we knew what was coming and ya'll had no clue how bad it really was until it was on you.
Hello from Texas, where we get weather just as bad as this but for some reason don't have basements. They tell us to get in our bathtubs, I guess so they can locate the bodies easier.
What was on the pizza?
Thanks for sharing your experience. I've been through two tornados and a microburst with 100+mph winds. Surprised to hear that this was worse than a tornado in your experience. Seems scary.
I also want to give HUGE SHOUTOUT to the lady who was more worried about her goats than anything else. I'm so happy you got those kids and kept them safe. I know when we had our storms my husband held on to me and my cat tight, but goats aren't usually on that list of animals that ppl tend to worry about more than themselves. Those are adorable goats and I am happy you and they got through this OK.
why not?
As an individual who's occupation is Disaster response I must disagree with your opinion that people do not care for the animals in their care, weather it be pets livestock or an itergral part of their business ( horse ranchers or sustainable farmers). During situations like this and others like floods wildfires and tornados one of the first things these folks due is to check on the safety of their animals and my Team and I often find that these animals and their famlies are their top priorty. In the last two years the firm I work for has started to augment certain frontline teams with a trained Vetrinarian who is on call for us to call upon and enter a disaster area with our team who along with our Pararescue element works to treat any injuries to humans and their animals. I know of at lest two Hotshot groups comprised of six to eight crews that have full mobile vet clinics as part of their support group, next to the loss of a human family member one of the hardest things to do is look in the families faces and try to conosole them as you explain you found one of their beloved animals or pets and that they could not be saved.
yeah, animals have always been a scary concern for me when tornadoes or even hurricanes happen. It's honestly sad and I hate how helpless they may be during disasters. Glad that lady cared enough about her animals too
@@jericho1-4 Agreed! With the Abbotsford flooding a month ago, MOST farmers were out there taking the best care of their animals that they could, or helping neighbors, offering barns, etc... No sign of PETA of course
th-cam.com/video/9feJDYfKMe8/w-d-xo.html
@@Rx7man I've never in my 12+ years working in the disaster response field seen PETA or the M/SPCA at any disaster, though their quick to show up along with a bunch of youtube and celebrity "animal rescue" personalities to file charges and fine the owners for abuse and mistreatment to run their propaganda ad fundraisng schemes days later. They are never there when the farmers ranchers or pet owners need them the most. About a year ago we were doing SAR in preperation for a full evacuation of a location that was danger close to a massive wildfire. We came up on a cuddlesac with three homes one of which was an elderly couple who were just finishing loading what their vehicle could carry so we checked in with them to see if they had seen either of their neighbors recently. as our team leader was talking to them we could hear a cat meowing like crazy, the elderly woman said it must be their neighbors cat they had gotten the new litter of kittens out but couldn't find the mother and the sheriffs deputies were pushing them all to leave the deputy left to check one more home up the side of the mountain less than ten minutes away and said we (the elderly couple) had better be gone when he came back. We found the lightly singed cat by the neighbors front door and took it with us and escourted the elderly couple back to the main road where we were flagged down by the deputy relayed our findings during our SAR sweep of our sector and all of us moved out while in route we relayed to incident command that the fire was going to crown over the left side ridge and to pull the crews or they would get caught in a firestorm. When we got to safe zone two of our team to the cat to get seen by a vet as her breathing sounded labored and was a concern, about an hour later we bumped into the elderly couple who had called their neighbor to tell them their cat had been found so our team leader asked for the cell# and went to retrieve their cat from the vet. What we thought was a reputable vet turned out to be some halfassed pet rescue for profit outfit that had youthanized this families cat claiming it had been too badly burned to be saved. We all knew this was bullshit and at worse the poor cat had smoke inhilation as it was only slightly singed and that was most likely from flying ambers so our team leader asked to see the cat as we had brought it in and knew it hadn't sustained serious burns, not the kind these people were claiming. Turns out the were doing this to animals with no confirmed owner on sight to cut cost. Our team leader lost his shit and slugged the vet knocking him out cold and called the sheriff to report what we had found out, the fucked up thing is nothing they did was against the law if you can believe that yet we were all cited with assault and battery disorderly conduct and filing a false report. So its been our habit to tell folks to only take their animals to vets they know and trust as these out of towners do more harm than good
Dude Brendan seems like he's just the most chill dude! His business is literally just collapsing around him and he just says "Ohhhh jeeze. Ooohhhh man."
He did let slip with an F bomb towards the end of his video lol. Surprised it wasn't edited out.
dude i wanted to cry for the guy
I was glad he decided not to look out the door. The walls could have colapsed when he was walking to the door.
I like the way he just closed the bathroom door and went back and sat on the toilet again. "Noooo no no."
Was sitting in the right spot…!?
I was in Galena, IL that day, and drove all the way back to Kankakee, IL through the heart of the storm. The 3 1/2 hr drive home took 8hrs, and near the end it looked apocalyptic with the intense rain and tranformers blowing all around. It was pretty terrifying.
Thank you for putting this edited video out. Very hard to watch the whole thing. Definitely makes you relive that day. I will never forget it. I feel for the people who were alone during it. Scariest storm I've ever been in.
For the painter hiding in the bathroom, that was me while hurricane Charley hit Punta Gorda FL.
When you have to shove with all your might to open the bathroom door because it's blocked by debris even big chunks of glass embedded in it and all the place is gone but the room you were in. You thank God!
You thank god for sending a hurricane that almost kills you???
@@ButBigger42 I've never been in battle but if I was and I was wounded but survived it's all the same to me. Yeah you thank God!
Punta Gorda, I was hiding in my apartment bathroom near UCF in Orlando with 2 cats and a dog. We had multiple tornadoes. But y’all got punched!
No you thank the architects and construction workers.
@@ButBigger42 - if God saves us from everything... how do we learn and adapt to it. If a child falls off a bike you help them once or twice no always. Or else how do they learn? Think before you speak, Sir
Damn! Thanks for all this footage. I hope you’re all ok. Brendan McCormick had that camera fixed on that Corvette - not gonna lie I shouted when the roof came down on it. Maybe more than Brendan. And who built that bathroom! Dude deserves an award. The girls at the news room were fabulous. Awards for you too! And that policeman- so dedicated. You all of you braved the storm and held on - to goats and doggies even. Beautiful people. I’m going to now binge watch the aftermath.
U summed that up perfectly, I'm now gonna watch any related videos. Facinating watcching the real time build up.
@@mikealman9259 two good, older ones are "Blizzard of 49" (Wyoming) and "Blizzard of 78" (Ohio)... both incredible storms
@@Rx7man Ty, I will check them out ;)
Brendan is an awesome guy. We had him paint our condo after the derecho so we could sell. We told him it was help him replace his car (which was ultimately totaled).
@@jennteal5265 I was so worried about Brendan. Relieved to hear he wasn't seriously injured and the Corvette was the primary loss.
Kudos to those brave and dedicated individuals who recorded their experiences. Excellent work putting this video together.
I should've recorded that storm, I regret not doing so.
@@Blue_Bird_Vision_5 Regrets, I have had a few
I remember this day very well,I remember me and my mom preparing for the storm before it hit.And I remember our backyard fence being completely blown down.During the storm I had to go out during the worst of the storm.I also remember after the storm how my whole community came together to help pick up each other's damage.
You guys love Iowa and the communities you serve. this film goes from "storms a brewin' and winds are blowing " clear up to an almost Alfred Hitchcock ending. Point well made- you guys stuck it out not knowing exactly what was coming. I salute your courage and professionalism. Good teaching tool.
Emmy nominated. Hardly surprising.
That’s what I miss about living up north, having a basement! Or a storm cellar. I was born and raised in Nebraska and have seen some whoppers. Seen and been in some bad storms here in Tx too. What never gets old is seeing your dad or husband at the front door giving everyone a blow by blow of the storm!
Haha this hasn't changed. Just selflessly did this for my wife a month or so ago.
Getting an earful about it just makes it that much more exciting though.
Lived in various places along the gulf coast for 35 years, with plenty of tropical systems, including CATs 1-3 hurricanes, and power losses exceeding 6 weeks. But down here we get at least a few day's warning, have generators, and know what to expect and how to prepare. I can't imagine having virtually no time to prepare for something like this. Must have been frightening.
Tornadoes here in the Carolinas usually hit with very little warning and some have been extremely devastating . People in this derecho counted trees and missing shingles . That is a blessing when you consider entire neighborhoods being flattened in my state in 1984 and 2011 from huge tornadoes .
Excellent edit! The way you spliced together everyone's stories was great!
It was crazy. I just remember sitting at the window looking South and watching it in Davenport, Iowa. It just went on and on. I was so proud of Iowa the next day just teaming up to get things cleaned up and back to order ASAP... I LOVE IOWA.
I know. Us Iowans are simple people, who work together in times of need. There's something special about Iowa.
We're simple people here in the Midwest that come together during rough times like the 2020 Derecho.
I had never heard of a derecho before. I've experienced alot of insane windstorms and crazy weather, but this looks scary too.🤯
@@Blue_Bird_Vision_5 I got brought here when my Dad was in the Med for a year during the Iran hostage scenario. I thank God all the time of giving me the gift of living in Iowa. What a great state!
@@Christina-71 Me too!
Really incredible documentary. The calm from the all the professionals that kept giving updates and advices to the population probably saved lives that day. Props too to all the first responders and great humanity that people showed in that awfull storm. As someone who experienced his first Derecho 3 weeks ago (and it was nowhere as huge as this one), I can only be compassionate to all of the people who went through that.
I live in NE Cedar Rapids just north of the Hiawatha border the wind here was like 112 we lost power for 10 days and like 20+ Trees. 4 of the biggest trees uprooted and fell that were over 150 ft tall Pines. Luckily none fell directly on the house. Thanks for making this BTW as I was disgusted at the lack of national news coverage of the storm that felt like a disaster movie.
I lived through it. The aftermath was the really bad part. The whole region was absolutely devastated. No electricity, no gas, and no food available for weeks. There were no gas cans, chainsaws, or generators for sale anywhere in our half of the State (assuming you could even get there).
It was just weeks of playing 'frontier lumberjack' as we went around in volunteer crews cleaning up downed trees, taking a cold shower, and reading books by candlelight.
The rest of the summer the air was full of mold and there was a cash shortage. 0/5 Stars, would not recommend.
Yeah lot of people lived through it
Very well done video. Insane...at 73 years of age and living in Louisiana I have seen high winds and fierce weather, but never have I seen anything like this inland. Sustained winds in excess of 80 mph can be devastating....but this, unreal. These are straight-line winds...you don't see these in hurricanes. This is a jetstream on the ground. The guy in the shop with the Firebird really kept his cool pretty good when the building finally surrendered to derecho.
I was driving a truck across 80 at the time, I saw the storm chasers drive by, I saw the phone give emergency notifications, especially for the nearby fair. I'm glad I pulled over and parked, it was pretty blowy for about an hour, it almost tipped
I picked up in Worthington MN, heading to Ohio, that morning and had just hit the Loves in Floyd, when my dispatcher ( who is in Omaha) calls me and orders me to shut down. It was hitting marshalltown about then.
When he said "I know you're from Texas and driving in a Hurricane may be normal to you..." That got the message across real quick.
The next morning going through Cedar Rapids and seeing a couple dozen trucks knocked down was eerie. Glad the boss stopped me as I would have been south of Waterloo when it hit.
53:08 really shows just how powerful the wind was. That is absolutely terrifying.
That was quite a storm! I never knew that there could be inland weather patterns like that- So many people doing the best the could in a very bad and unexpected situation. The hiker fella was very blessed to have been allowed in that basement where it was safe, even if it was crowded with poor ventilation. Dude.... I know it was stressful but count your blessings.
it's the total rock and a hard place choice, every thing you got to pick is dangerous, so you go with the least of the danger and hope for the best
Thank you for this production.
I’ve told people about this and until you see it or live it, there’s a lot of people that don’t believe how bad it was.
We just had three bomb cyclones and an atmospheric river come through here. I’m in a small town on Vancouver Island in B.C. Canada and the damage is crazy. We have cities underwater, about a dozen major highways closed due to damage, flooding, and mudslides etc, and we have a lot more water coming. I feel for anyone that’s suffered losses of any kind due to Mother Nature. I’m fortunate that we have a roof over out head and food in our bellies, and all our friends and loved ones are fine. This event in Iowa must have been terrifying and I feel for you all.
🇨🇦🇺🇸
Hi neighbor 👋🏼 I live in Whatcom county Washington and the storm really scared me too. But we have been spared what the rest of the country has gotten as far as disasters so I don’t complain much other than concern for our washed out roads and struggling families. So I kinda feel like it’s just our turn to get some natural disasters our way. Very scary but definitely predictable. Have you seen the Fifth Estate documentary video on TH-cam about the Fraser River valley? Omg it terrified me! I had no idea how vulnerable we all are to flooding 😟 yet somehow it’s not been this bad til now. Really something
@@CrystalMouse1 maybe they should stop cloud seeding .
@@CrystalMouse1 I'm near Lytton, and the devastation of the roads is unbelievable.. especially Highway 8.. first Fire, then this... I have been relatively unaffected by either, but there were tense moments for sure
It was very scary. I was stuck at my day program. I didn't see Mom until after dark.
So much better than the original edit. Such great footage. Don’t want to have anything distracting the audience.
I don't know if Iowa has any state-wide media awards, but I can't see how this wouldn't win Best Documentary if they do. VERY well done' the variety of footage, and the different personal perspectives kept me watching the whole thing...and I'm from Texas, never even been to Iowa. Congrats on a fine piece of work.
Iowa is just as bad as Texas tbh so if u ever visit you'll fit right in
The 2020 Derecho was a catagory four on the Saffer Simpson Scale. Winds up to 140 MPH. I named it Andrea.
Alright give this man some likes he came up with an original name for the Derecho
Ex-wife's name, perhaps? Haha....
Damn! Crazy hurricane like winds!
Jesus christ, its literally a hurricane on land. But even more terrifying because these things can create tornados. I dont know if hurricanes can do that, but if they can, jesus christ.
Wait what?
I had never even heard the word 'derecho' before this weather event occurred. A 'land hurricane' -- amazing!
I know right, never heard of these storms before today. Looked em up and they have been around for a minute too.
It was created by the climate change nuts.
used to just be called straight line winds as a kid, dont know where the new name came from
Derecho means "right" in Spanish. As in, it serves us right for ignoring climate change and all the signs of the times. Have a happy apocalypse!
SunnyAquamarine2 You clearly missed the point.
“That’s a nice corvette ya got there, be a shame if something were to happen to it…”-Mother Nature 2020
Brought to you by Geico.
So what happened to that guy? Look like he had run out of places to hide if that little storage room collapsed
Craigslist: 2017 Corvette, low miles, fresh paint, never wrecked!
@@JohnsonArmsProps He made it through the storm. Here is the full video of him, It's called TRAPPED INSIDE AN INLAND HURRICANE - Iowa Derecho 2020 th-cam.com/video/x8SrU-EgVf4/w-d-xo.html
Bumm, bum bum bum bum bum bum.
This is actually a storm we covered in one of my meteorology classes this semester at Mississippi State. Absolute monster of a storm.
Ahhhh - Mississippi State - where aspiring TV weatherpeople go to gain their meteorological "degree"
@@Christoph-sd3zi Something wrong with Mississippi State?
@@ScallywagBeowulf Lol! They're jealous. MS gets more tornadoes.😉
I was in one of these in 1993 in Hendricks County, Indiana. It was incredible, we parked the car in the midst of some trees because you couldn't drive in it. When it was over the ground was white with hail, we had to drive through 3 counties to find our way home. Cut the corn down to a foot high, whole fields. Amazing to have been through it.
That’s not the same. This was a different worst event than a normal storm sorry
@@dirkdiggler9379 not a normal storm at all. The only difference is this didn’t last as long.
@@dirkdiggler9379 actually, I looked up what he was saying and it is exactly the same. It's listed as a Derecho in the Central Plains, July 8-9 1993 and is on the north American list of Derechos. I understand you believe this was the only terrible event to happen and that it was intense and scary but don't try to minimize what someone else went through because it's literally recorded history that both are recorded Derechos. A simple Google search revealed that.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_derecho_events
45:40 the way the sirens harmonize is beautiful and extremely eary at the same time
I noticed that too. Ours do not sound like that here in Ohio. I think I will write a letter to someone. I want more musical sirens. It might calm some of the terror when they go off.
I started creating a symphony in my head after hearing that!
If you look up tornado sirens harmonizing, there's a bunch of videos from Iowa City of this happening. I've heard it myself and it's amazing and seems fairly unique to the siren combination that IC uses.
45:35 the harmonizing of the sirens can also be heard in another video. Pretty neat effect
I've been through tornadoes before but nothing has even compared to this storm I live in the country near des moines and I watched as trees toppled over, silos collapsed, and my shed get blown to bits. It was truly a terrifying storm of incredible proportions
Thank you for doing a re-edit on this, much more watchable without the clicks - cheers.
It's still intolerable because of the tornado siren. Like whoever originally edited this needs to be burned at the stake. Everything possible to enrage the viewer.
@@A-A-RonDavis2470 2 years late. But I feel like the sirens add a bit of tension for the viewer so they understand that this was something dangerous.
Thank you for the evident care and skill in putting this together. You've well captured the collective experience not only of Cedar Rapids, but of so many other cities and towns in Iowa. I live in Marshalltown and after the F-3 tornado of 2018, I can tell you that nerves were quite on edge on August 10th. And they remain so anytime the air gets still and the sky turns angry. I still grieve the lost trees and in addition to planting more, as I think the whole state has done, this year I put a celebratory ribbon of one of the few of ours that survived both 'wind events'.
If you are interested, I did put together a special similar to this recounting the Marshalltown Tornado.
Thank you for the kind words
@@NStewWX , I'd absolutely be interested in seeing it, thank you! Should I just search for your name on TH-cam?
@@Channel-ld9ip it's on this channel, search Marshalltown Tornado: In their own words
@@NStewWX , oh, I've seen it and it's very well done! Thank you for that as well.
Brilliant editing. I'm going to recommend it to my film-maker friends in Christchurch, New Zealand.
We traveled through Cedar Rapids over to Ames 10 days after the derecho and were just stunned by the scope of damage. My wife is from Cedar Rapids and our son lives in Ames. On the day of the storm he called us saying the tornado sirens were going off and he was seeking shelter. I'm a former TV News producer and this documentary is definitely deserving of awards. Great job to everyone who put it together.
Those storm alarms are some of the most haunting sounds in existence. It literally feels like it's a calling for the apocalypse every time.
There's a video of one in downtown Chicago and it's the creepiest sound I've ever heard. Gives me chills
that's the whole point.
At 41:58.......WATCH!
This is a very well researched production! By far the best I've seen!
Kudos to all involved; I know that when it happened, this Columbus, WI man (me)...was very concerned for the loss of crops that Iowa farmers no doubt incurred. Not to mention all the other destruction that happened as this freakish storm made it's way across your state and into Illinois and Wisconsin. By very, very far, though, Iowa was on my mind! I pray that a storm of this magnitude does not sweep your state again.
Great vid! At the time of this storm, I was on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip from Washington State, to Illinois. I really lucked out when I made a snap decision to turn south at Lincoln Nebraska and not drive across Iowa. This storm would have been hell to see approaching in my rearview mirror.
That meteorologist did a great job! Very clear communication and she seemed to know which source was important during particular parts of the broadcast. Very professionally done
This was very interesting to watch. Thank you! My friend group had just been talking about derechoes about a week ago. We've never had one here in central Oklahoma, thank goodness! Tornadoes are bad enough. I was able to just watch for curiosities sake, until the sirens went off in the video. Instant tears and anxiety, but not your fault 😒 I grew up in Moore Oklahoma and live about 20 miles from my childhood neighborhood now, so PTSD kinda kicked in. I knew I was ok, and so were the people I was watching, but that visceral fear will always be there.
Much love from Oklahoma!
Media sure ignored this storm back east here in NJ. Thanks for uploading this.
I never even heard of a Derecho until it hit Maryland in 2012. I was living on a houseboat at the time. You talk about scary.
I known it’s not a laughing matter but the McCormick paint dude was so chill I was laughing at how calm he was.
I’m sure business has been overwhelming for him after it. Lol
He handled it very well, with just the right amount of freakout combined with curiosity. Though I would have closed that door a little faster at the end.
When he shuts the door AFTER the roof goes 🤣🤣
we've been through Wyoming/Montana when the rain came down so hard you couldn't see the end of the station wagon hood, so dad stopped the car and hit the flashers...when it stopped we were less than 2 feet from a car we never knew was there. AWESOME Video!!!!!!!!!!!
Great production! I agree with the others’ comments regarding quality editing. I was unaware of the event under my rock here in New England so this was really fascinating and very easy to watch the way everything was presented. Thanks !
You live under a rock? How does that even work? Or do you have a slate roof?
Dont feel bad. The news didnt talk about it and neither did googles news feed. I was in NY at the time, but my family in IL knew nothing about it. Communication about this event to the rest of the country was pathetic, imo.
I've been through every kind of intense weather you can imagine (and some you can't) but you KNOW you're in the sh!t when mature trees and bushes are being debarked in front of your eyes.
Facts
An interesting thing I noticed was without the swirl like a tornado has, things with overhangs and cars fared better. More knocked things over and popped roofs than the updraft. No semi trucks flying through the air. Both certainly catastrophically destructive, but just different. It had to be about 60-100 miles deep and 800 miles wide though so that's a huge difference. You can often skirt a tornado if you're going perpendicular to it and it's not close yet, but you can't outrun 800 miles wide. Yikes.
Been through a derecho, thought not as violent as this one. It really is like an inland hurricane. Extreme straight-line winds over a very wide area. More stuff flattened than the huge clouds of debris a tornado kicks up. We were out of power for about a week as many trees and power lines were knocked down.
Just like going through a hurricane eyewall.
@@johnmeador56 Not really. In the eye of a hurricane the winds aren't high because the wind is swirling outside it. In a Derecho, the wind is pushing forward in one direction more like a really strong jet stream wind. lol
Talking about the eyewall the storms that surround the eye,the eye is mostly calm.
@@imscanon Definitely really.
Been through a hurricane _eyewall_ (not the eye/core, which is what you’re talking about) when younger visiting family down in SC despite being on the outer edge of the storm. The derecho I went through was just as intense and long lasting as that band, probably worse as the derecho I experienced was in the immediate impact areas along the band.
It’s why a derecho is described as having hurricane-like intensity with winds and damage. It’s definitely not because of the eye where it’s calm for a brief period, it’s because of the walls it’s compared to…
I didn't even know this weather existed till now.
ditto....I can't imagine enduring this...terrifying
@@anneosullivan2907
You have no idea how terrifying it was
This happening often in GA. USA
I went through on in 2012 and it did not cause any major structure damage it just took tree branches off. No rain fell. I think it was late June 2012 and it was the first time I heard the term derecho used for that kind of storm.
I got stuck outside in 2012 when I got locked outside my place of employment under emergency shutdown. Department of Defense contractor with chemicals capable of taking out 3 city blocks. I had SLIPPED outside to smoke and got locked out. I spent the entire storm stuck in a 3 sided metal smoking block building. Was first I knew of a derecho. 14 hours to get home from work that night where so many trees were down. No power for 9 days in HOT HOT weather.
I recorded it as it came through St Louis-thought We witnessed something Unusually wicked. Your storm makes ours look like a garden variety shower. My hearts pounding just watching from the comfort of my couch (with Bose speakers for awesome sound)
I'm in South Fl..looks like a hurricane to me...😔..wish we had basements...lol..
This video popped up as a suggested watch, so I did, out of curiosity because I have family in Cedar Rapids. Ended up watching the whole thing, most of it with my mouth hanging open. In. Sane. Very well done documentary.
I didn't see the original video, but this one was great! The paint shop guy has ice water in his veins. I thought that when I saw his video last year and I still believe it today. All he said was "Oh no." For those of you that have been through a hurricane this won't seem like much--light Cat 2 but for IA who can deal with tornado's because they blow through fast, a sustained high speed wind is devastating.
Yeah, Hurricanes are an absolute bitch. It hit last August 27th, we’re still not back in our home. It DEVASTATED lake Charles, Sulphur, Westlake, Moss Bluff, Carlyss, Hackberry, Cameron, Vinton. We lost damn near everything, not to mention our house was downwind from a chlorine release from a local plant damaged by the storm.
So, being unable to get to our house to at least tarp it due to the shelter in place for 36 hours, it rained 3 times during the release. Our entire house was further damaged by chlorine mixture with rain causing a form of hydrochloride that just destroyed all of our possessions. The house couldn’t be breathed in.
THEN, the insurance company had to be sued because they just, we’ll take my word for it they screwed us.
Right lmao Iowa doesn't have a building code requiring those hurricane brackets or whatever they're called the metal pieces they use on ever joint of the building
I’m in Florida and I’m terrified of tornadoes but not hurricanes they aren’t that big a deal to me anymore . U learn how to deal with it and u have everything ready cause u know it’s probably coming , if it doesn’t great but always prepared . Tornadoes are the scariest
@@OCDustin We didn't even take any damage other than loss of power during that hurricane you are talking about. Live outside Alexandria. However my insirance company as well as every company within the state refuses to cover our homes anymore due to hurricane risk. They dropped our policy. I am now insured rather badly through my mortgage company. No other option available means I just have to take the screwing.
The thing is, you get days or even up to a week of warning with hurricanes. With tornadoes, we usually get an average of a couple minutes. With the derecho? Well, Cedar Rapids and Eastern Iowa had about 2 hours warning - and their warning came from those of us in Central Iowa. I live in Ames, IA. We knew there was a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and that "high winds" were predicted. We had absolutely no idea it would be what we got. I was standing in the glass entry way at the doctor's office when the winds first picked up. It didn't take us long to realize we needed to get the hell away from the glass.
There was absolutely no warning for just how severe the winds would be. And then we didn't get electricity back for a week - lots of rotten food got thrown out. And for ppl who live in apartments like ours? All we had was an electric stove/oven. We couldn't cook anything and didn't have any kind of stockpile of non-perishable goods that don't need cooked. We went through the few boxes of crackers we had pretty quick.
I don't know how I got here, but this had me on the edge of my seat for the entire production. 👍👍
South Louisiana here and this was well done. The storm was the same as a hurricane although the wind blows all day and night but I’ll take the hurricanes over the tornadoes. The water rising because of the torrential rains is always an issue along with the days and weeks without electricity. Fortunately most of us have generators. I hope I have some insight into Hurricanes without minimizing what you all went through. I can’t imagine having no time to prepare. All the best!
I live on the coast of NC and was thinking the same.
I’ll tell you this. The generators sold out, soooo fast. As did chainsaws. The lines for gas was miles long and took hours to even get some if there was even any left. 95+ degrees. Humid as can be. No power for 12 days for myself. That was one of the worst times ever. I will say. It brought our community together, neighbors. Skin color, race, politics, everything. It didn’t mater. Proud to be an Iowan.
Thankfully with a hurricane we've got a reasonably good idea where it's going 4 - 7 days out. I can not imagine the combination of having hours warning and the fact that this is so far out of the normal for the area that people weren't thinking about how bad it was going to get.
This is what irritates me. People that didn't experience this storm like to downplay how bad it really was. I'm not saying you are at all. I'm just talking about people in general. Do hurricanes along the coasts suck? Yes, they do. But people living in hurricane zones have a fair amount of warning before the hurricane hits. The infrastructure is also built to withstand hurricane force winds. We had zero, ZERO, warning about how strong of an impact this storm was going to be. Cedar Rapids is still picking up the pieces 1.5 years later. Some spots here in Des Moines are still showing remnents of the derecho. I forget what the estimated loss of crop was, but it left a dent in Iowa's agriculture profits for that summer. Corn was almost ready to harvest at the time the derecho hit. At least 25% of corn fields in the state were flattened. I've never been scared of a storm before. I usually go out to my car to watch the storm as it rolls by. I legit was huddled in my bathroom worried s''tless that my apartment building was gonna collapse from the wind forces. Or the roof was gonna get blown off. I live on the top floor of my building. There is no basement where I live. I probably would've ended up dead had the windows or roof blown open.
I've lived thru Katrina and Ida, multiple tornadoes in Louisiana and Texas, and a major earthquake in Mexico City. You can't compare the experiences. They are all terrifying and horrible in their own, unique way.
Great job in making this documentary. I drove head long into a Derecho in Virginia back in 2002 I believe. The radar showed an arrowhead signature coming at high speed toward the Prince William County area. We met up with it and it was on us in seconds. Frightening!!! Everything was going sideways, including my car.
This is the first I've heard of this horrifying, devastating event. This documentary is excellent. I feel terrible for the people and animals that went through this. I can't imagine actually feeling it there, but the video is certainly alarming.
It really wasn't that bad, my house got a direct hit. Thanks though
@@thehorseman1806 "It wasn't that bad" It caused 11 billion in damages, come on.
@@Petalflipper i never said anything about damage being caused or injury occurring. I stated that from where I reside....It wasn't that bad. Meaning other areas/people probably have a different opinion and others may have the same.
It had weakened slightly by the time it got to me, but it was honestly insane.
They're not kidding about how long that went on. It was NUTS.
@@thehorseman1806 I've witnessed many of tornadoes living in Iowa. I don't get scared by some wind much. This s''t about gave me PTSD and made me realize how fragile life really is.
We were there, working at Adventureland Amusement Park in Altoona and were staying in the campground. It was terrifying. The strongest gust recorded in the Park was 107 mph.
Fantastic production...STUNNING and SCARY FOOTAGE...BRAVE news reporters, police, and those who videoed Mother Nature's temper tantrum. SO GLAD that young man in the work garage was smart enough to stay in the bathroom. Hope he's still o.k. 💖
This edit shows the news reporters giving some live examples to viewers how dangerous the storm was as it came toward them. Thank you! This shows how hard those Two were multi tasking in the studio.
Can't believe its already been a year. You can still see the effects of this awful storm to this day. Its the reason I look out the back of my apartment and see what was a large garage that now looks like a glorified parking lot. Seeing several signs still messed up and parking lots with lights still on the ground. Seeing that we are supposed to get some crazy weather tonight, I just hope we won't be seeing a round 2 any time soon.
I just noticed today the best buy sign back up. Idk when that got put back up probably awhile ago because I'm not over there much but it's little things like that that make me happy to see. Plus not seeing so many tarps on roofs..
Here in Roland, Iowa, we have a designated spot for storm debris now, because of that derecho. In fact, there is still a bit of left over debris form that storm. It's wild.
I’m in Minnesota and didn’t even hear about this. It just showed up in my YT feed. Holy cats this is crazy.
Yep
I was in CR when the derecho hit. I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal and was kinda irritated because I thought it was gonna make me late for work. Didn’t realize all the damage that was done until I was making my way to work which turned us all away because they shut it down because of the storm. Finally got back to my apartment and noticed there a bunch of pretty big trees down on a street adjacent to my apartment building and one big one that landed on top of a minivan on my street right next to my building. Trees and powerlines were down throughout all of Cedar Rapids and Marion. There was a truck on it’s side over by the Hyvee on Collins Rd, the Best Buy sign was mangled and bent over at ground level, etc.. Lost communications, no internet, and no electricity for days. Cold showers are not fun. Never got a straight answer from Alliant Energy about the power. It all just sucked! I was in CR for the flood of ‘08, too.
I just ran across this video. Thanks for creating and sharing. I live in Grinnell and experienced this storm 1st hand. My employer lives in St Louis and I had a hard time convincing them of the extent of the storm damage and why I was without power for a few hours shy of a week. Amazing video. I hope this is a one in a lifetime event.
I lived in Marion, Iowa at that time. My daughter called me and said a derecho like storm was approaching very fast. It was here before I made sure my windows were safe. I was not scared in the least until it was over. The damage was horrific. I think they had clocked the wind at the Marion airport at 120mph. No basement in building,and I was living in a second floor apt in a senior housing center. Not in my 76 years at that time had I ever experienced a storm like that. I watched multiple trees go down and one flew over eight cars. Now when they mention storms I am fully aware of the consequences of that day on August 10th.
i live in Marshalltown, Iowa. the was very intimidating it almost felt like a tornado. I had tree land right above where me my son slept. we've never been so scared to sleep in our own beds so much. since then the tree branch was cut down. Our towns cemetery was the worst of the town. I've seen something like it before that happened. the images of just the trees rocking back and forth knocking against my windows, me and my cat were running back and forth throughout my old apartment so astonished as to what was happening. The sound of the wind was intense too.
We just had this exact phenomenon in Ontario this past weekend. I had seen this video before a few times and it was something to see my area clobbered by the same thing! Never have I seen a power pole snapped in two, 50-60’ mature evergreens uprooted and tossed, etc. The only storm that was worse was our ice storm which was oddly no wind, crackling of branches breaking and transformers sparking big silent otherwise.
I live in Des Moines, and while the storm was pretty bad it wasn't yet at peak intensity when it roared through the area. My hometown, Cedar Rapids, got the worst of it though. The worst part for me wasn't the storm itself, but rather, the aftermath. Nearly two entire weeks with no power in the sweltering August heat, all-but murdering my freshly bought groceries and turning my apartment into the sauna of death! It was so bad that I was forced to take refuge at a friend's place. The stars were pretty at least.
Oh wow! What a thing to live through.
Thank you everyone for sharing your videos with "theNStew" who did a great job in compiling them.
Absolutely incredible documentary!! I had seen some of the footage shown here before, but having it all sequenced in realties time gives a much better reality as it was happening.
An amazing film giving great insight into what it’s like to experience such a storm. I live in the UK so I have no experience of weather events such as this and was amazed by the power of the winds. We had a storm in 1987 that was extremely bad but it happened of a night thank God and we just woke up to trees down roofs off etc.
We were at Oskaloosa , in our RV, and we were protected by a large building, but we watched everything around us just blow over and away. I've been through 3 tornadoes, but this scared me worse than those together.
I was lifted from the ground in a tornado and carried a good distance before being being thrown into a cyclone fence in Oklahoma years ago. When it happened the wind came up in just seconds from nothing to insane speed. I think of it as the scariest experience of my life.
That sounds horrifying. Did you feel the weightlessness when you were lifted? I imagine it felt like being tossed around by big waves at the beach
I literally would've had a heart attack
@@janet202 I gained a unique perpective of the world in general and a healthy respect for 200 mph winds you could say from the experience. Yep... I still get goose bumps thinking about it and it happened thirty something years ago.
That never happened - you've just watched The Wizard Of Oz one too many times.
Thank you for this video. My husband's 96 year old grandmother lived through this. She lived alone on a hill just north of Toledo, IA city limits. The storm took most of her house right off the top of her, as she prayed for deliverance. She was unharmed, other than being extremely shook up. She said the winds hit so suddenly that she had no time to get to her basement. The house started shaking and she made her way into her bedroom, knelt by her bed, then the roof and some of the walls were wrenched from the house. She lived for a little over a year after that but it seemed to really take it's toll on her. Watching this footage from so close to her home gives me an idea of what she went through. What a terrifying storm.
None of this happened. Stop looking for attention.
Thank you, beautifully put together!
My son lived in Msrshalltown when it hit. He was there when the tornado hit the courthouse was hit by a tornado a year or so before.
I was watching from central ILL. I was monitoring the radars. I was about 25 miles from the Lincoln ILL station as it sent signals into Iowa.
That was awsome work! I was on the edge of my seat mouth agap the entire hour! Good job putting that all together 👏👏👏
I was in a derecho back in 2012 in WV. Had never experienced anything like it prior as we don’t normally get wild weather events like that. The sky went from daylight to a greenish grey color before going completely dark. Lost power as soon as the rain started … we knew just half a mile away something bad happened if it went out that quick.
Traumatized our whole community with all the damage it did. We still have trees going flat in one direction over the mountains a decade later. Was our son’s earliest first memory: hunkering down with a blanket over us, hearing our windows shake as we heard trees falling all around us. We were not equipped to deal with such a thing, and all I could do was cover him the best I could in case of the worst. Sounded like a bunch of trains going by the house.
I’ll never forget the eerily calm feeling in the air and the silence after it passed. Walking out our door and shining a flashlight around us (was at the edge of dark) to see how close we were to trees falling flat on us near our home. No vehicles out anywhere, we had no power … could only see flashlights all over the community and people yelling “you okay??” after a few minutes of intense silence.
I still have a mild freak out when high winds are expected with heavy storms. Haven’t experienced anything like it since, and hope like crazy I never have to go through it again. We were without power for 2 weeks, many places closed due to it, food ruined, not many had generators at the time … Army Corps had to come in and remove hundreds of trees from the roadways due to us being trapped both ways in and and out.
We’re definitely prepared now in case it ever happens again, but we’re all hoping it never does.
Wonderful real time documentary I watched a lot of the footage when it happened last year but there was some I haven't seen before I am a bit of a natural weather geek I find the power of nature very humbling and it can put us humans in our place I am really into a volcano erupting in Iceland right now so well done and thanks again from Melbourne Australia 🌏⛈🌪🇦🇺
I first heard about this from a TH-camr in Ames. As a wannabe storm chaser, I found this INCREDIBLY fascinating and VERY well put together! No wonder it was nominated for an Emmy. This has already been saved to my Weather playlist.
That was crazy!! The guy at the end in the bathroom, I hope the walls and roof kept in tact until the end of the storm.
Hurricane winds that’s for sure. That’s a lot of damage. Just incredible.
I'm really thankful for this documentary, more light had to be shed on the situation and you guys did great on it.
I was at the Adventureland Campground in Altoona Iowa when the system literally came barging in. As someone who can actually predict weather by looking at the clouds, I knew something was really off about four hours before the system came in due to a specific characteristic I saw in the altostratus clouds. But as someone who was suffering from stomach ulcers at that moment, I couldn't gather enough energy to run over to the park to warn my coworkers over there which is something I still regret to this day.
But as the storm came in, everything just changed so quickly that it was hard to describe. That one moment, you could see the shelf cloud come in as the winds completely died down, then the next, you were pelted by rain so hard that felt like you were being pelted with ice as the winds nearly knocked you off your feet as you were blinded with dust in your eyes. Fragments of branches were flying all around me as I saw a tent fly right between two cars in front of me, luckily getting itself stuck.
To this day, those images are still fresh in my mind like it just happened yesterday. We also had a rumor going around that the wind monitor on the Storm Chaser ride recorded wind speeds up to 107 mph.
I remember sitting in the living room talking to my room mate when it hit. We lived behind Wilson Hy Vee. That was bad. Watched all the beautiful trees get torn apart, all sorts of stuff flew by the window. The wind almost popping the glass right out of the panes, disturbing to see that too. The afterwards when wilson was impassable. All that damage.....
Really good. I remember when the sirens went off my wife got me downstairs and I thought out 6 year old home was being ripped apart. So much noise a very long half hour here in Carroll our power stayed on and it really started to gain steam as it passed so much damage nit only here but all over Iowa. Not to mention the Crop losses it was so costly, great job with your documentary .
A month before this in Southeast PA we had a derecho come thru here that had 85 mph winds, took out power to 500,000 customers and killed four people. That storm lasted about 20 mins and the 80+ mph winds lasted for about 15 mins. This storm made that one seem like whimper. Pretty sure the National Weather Service shortly after these events happened upgraded the severe thunderstorm warning to the extremely rare high wind warning which is only used for 115 mph and higher storms, usually in hurricane eye walls of category 3 or greater.
Wow! - This was such a great production! Had me captivated till the end. All except for Covid Guy.
In all my studies of weather, I had never heard the term "derecho."
The fact that they mispronounce it in the Midwest probably has something to do with that.
Dare-etch-oh is the given Spanish pronunciation.
Dare-ay-she-oh is how midwesterners say it. Don’t ask me why.
Neither have I
In case you don’t know in Spanish derecho means straight
@@deadman983 no, it doesn’t. Derecho means “right (direction)” in Spanish. Nice try though.
@@HiImSeanIPlayBass oh I forgot, it means that also, but it also means straight, where I come from, I’m Mexican
I'm only halfway through viewing this and WHOA! Kudos to the whole team that put this together for us to reflect on and make preparations for the next big event. A family member did a FaceTime call from Grimes, Iowa during this incredible event. Having lived there and been close to one tornado out near Adel in Dallas County, I was still shocked by the intensity of this derecho. Interesting to hear from those who experienced it first hand. I felt like I was there, right in it, but it was so much worse in person. Scary weather events are happening far more often. Heard tornado warnings as a kid living in Alabama. You never forget the sound. Stay weather aware.
As a South Florida resident, it would be TERRIFYING to have a hurricane hit us with an hour's notice. I'm assuming these things don't last for hours or days.
No they don’t last as long as hurricanes
this storm only stayed in one place for a small period of time. storm was moving extremely fast. by the time it got where i lived about 70 miles west of chicago IL. the storm had weakened. but still brought hail, strong winds, and tornadoes, which were all rated EF-1 if memory serves me right. one was only 6 miles from my house
@@malachiszarafinski541 Like a really wet tornado. when hurricanes come, you get all your loose items stored or tied down, windows covered and animals sheltered. I can't imagine the carnage!
Hurricane MIchael survivor here. As bad as that was, I can't imagine being in the eyewall an hour after first hearing about the storm's approach.
@@Vector_Ze My 16th birthday, hurricane David
Wow. Completely absorbing documentary. I had no idea that the more northern parts of the USA could be affected by these sorts of storms. And the scale of it, and that people have just an hour or even just a few minutes warning. Now that is scary!