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Like the title says, today marks the day 2 years ago when Central Iowa was hit by a thing called a derecho. The term means something almost like hurricane force straight line winds, some approaching 120-130mph. I had never heard of this before that day but now that term is a stark reminder that weather/storm systems can be very dangerous.
Day started like any other, was working in Iowa City until some very ominous black clouds started forming. Called the boss to see if we should wait it out & he told us to make a run for it. Cleaned up quickly & got dropped off & home. I live in a trailer in North Liberty, about 15 minutes away. By the time I got inside the wind was howling like I'd never heard but all satellite signal was out so I couldn't check the radar. In a matter of minutes it sounded like a freight train going thru the trailer. I don't have a car so I was kinda stuck. There's a grocery store across the street but there was so much debris & branches & whatnot flying by my windows that I thought a sprint might not be a good idea. I hunkered down, literally shaking in fear, not knowing what to do. After some relentless shaking I heard "that" sound, the sound of the 60' tree in my yard coming down. I froze. Glass breaking, tree limbs against my windows, I truly & honestly thought that I was a goner. I've never heard a sound like that nor have I EVER been that scared in my life. After an eternity (probably 10 minutes) I was able to finally get some cell service & call a friend who lives nearby. All I knew is that I was, in fact, still alive but I also knew I had to get the hell out of there. After almost 2 hrs everything subsided. Whole town was w/out power & there were downed trees blocking nearly every single street. Time to go back & survey the damage. Ugh, the big tree had split in half & landed squarely on my trailer & my neighbor's, almost cutting mine in two. Ended up taking that whole week off work to begin the cleanup but the monster on our trailers would require a professional tree service. Power was out for 4 days & my poorcat didn't come out from under my couch for 5, stayed @ friend's house & used my time to help anyone who needed it (there were many)- chainsawing, raking, pulling branches to the curb. Actually brought the community together to be honest.
Weather service later said that the system just moved too fast & exploded too quickly to get any warning out. But I made it thru, band-aided the trailer & still feel lucky to be here w/ ya'll because a lot of folks got it much worse than me!!
Day started like any other, was working in Iowa City until some very ominous black clouds started forming. Called the boss to see if we should wait it out & he told us to make a run for it. Cleaned up quickly & got dropped off & home. I live in a trailer in North Liberty, about 15 minutes away. By the time I got inside the wind was howling like I'd never heard but all satellite signal was out so I couldn't check the radar. In a matter of minutes it sounded like a freight train going thru the trailer. I don't have a car so I was kinda stuck. There's a grocery store across the street but there was so much debris & branches & whatnot flying by my windows that I thought a sprint might not be a good idea. I hunkered down, literally shaking in fear, not knowing what to do. After some relentless shaking I heard "that" sound, the sound of the 60' tree in my yard coming down. I froze. Glass breaking, tree limbs against my windows, I truly & honestly thought that I was a goner. I've never heard a sound like that nor have I EVER been that scared in my life. After an eternity (probably 10 minutes) I was able to finally get some cell service & call a friend who lives nearby. All I knew is that I was, in fact, still alive but I also knew I had to get the hell out of there. After almost 2 hrs everything subsided. Whole town was w/out power & there were downed trees blocking nearly every single street. Time to go back & survey the damage. Ugh, the big tree had split in half & landed squarely on my trailer & my neighbor's, almost cutting mine in two. Ended up taking that whole week off work to begin the cleanup but the monster on our trailers would require a professional tree service. Power was out for 4 days & my poorcat didn't come out from under my couch for 5, stayed @ friend's house & used my time to help anyone who needed it (there were many)- chainsawing, raking, pulling branches to the curb. Actually brought the community together to be honest.
Weather service later said that the system just moved too fast & exploded too quickly to get any warning out. But I made it thru, band-aided the trailer & still feel lucky to be here w/ ya'll because a lot of folks got it much worse than me!!
