At a Glance
- The storms caused widespread wind damage as they pushed eastward in the Midwest.
- In Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, more than 1 million homes and businesses lost power.
Residents in the Midwest felt the wrath of a derecho which left widespread damage and more than a million customers in the dark Monday afternoon.
The severe storms marched eastward across Nebraska and Iowa, bringing wind gusts as high as 100 mph that easily downed large trees and caused some structural damage.
The storms arrived in the Des Moines area late Monday morning, bringing torrential rain and dangerous straight-line winds. Roof damage was reported at Buccaneer Arena, the home of the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League, in Urbandale.
Between Des Moines and Ames, social media reports showed overturned vehicles and at least one home with severe roof damage.
In the early afternoon, the storms reached Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where wind gusts above 70 mph were reported nearby. The storms left several structures damaged in the city.
Additional damage was reported elsewhere in Iowa – buildings were damaged in Newton, a grain elevator was destroyed in Luther and a 2x4 punctured through a home in Perry.
Several people were injured in Marshall County in central Iowa, its homeland security coordinator Kim Elder told the Associated Press. The winds blew over trees, ripped road signs out of the ground and tore roofs off buildings, according to Elder. "We had quite a few people trapped in buildings and cars," she said.
In Marshalltown, Iowa, 100 to 120 cars had their windows blown out at a factory. Marshalltown Mayor Joel Greer declared a civil emergency, telling residents to stay home and off the streets so first responders could respond to calls, according to the AP.
Parts of Omaha had heavy damage, with downed trees littering roads and yards Monday morning.
Trees were snapped off at the bases in Yorkville, Illinois, Monday afternoon as the storms pushed eastward.
Winds over 70 mph resulted in uprooted trees farther east in New Lenox, Illinois, and flipped a boat in Gardner.
The fire chief in Rockford, Illinois, said at least 150 power poles were damaged across the city after the storms moved through. Tree damage also occurred.
A wind gust up to 72.5 mph was measured at Chicago's Midway International Airport Monday afternoon. Roof and tree damage was reported.
A farm shed was destroyed in Lancaster, Wisconsin, and in Paddock Lake, Wisconsin, there was an estimated wind gust of 70 mph.
Damage extended into Indiana, where trees snapped and a tractor-trailer was blown over in Valparaiso. A wind gust of 70 mph was measured in Russiaville, Indiana, Monday evening.
More than 1 million customers lost power in the Midwest on Monday. In Iowa alone, close to 500,000 homes and businesses were without power after the storms rolled through, according to PowerOutage.us. More than 570,000 customers had lost power in Illinois after the derecho moved through the state. Nebraska had nearly 50,000 additional customers in the dark at the height of the outages and Indiana reported over 150,000 without power after storms entered the state. In addition, over 70,000 customers lost power in Missouri, with more than 20,000 in the dark in both Wisconsin and Michigan.
A derecho is a widespread wind damage event caused by severe thunderstorms.
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