FA+
Shop
Iowa got fucked...hard...
5 years ago
Those who have been following me here for at least nine years may recall a journal I posted way, way back in 2011 titled "I survived a Category 3 hurricane...kinda..." (https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2533146/). It's a journal about a derecho...a massive, MASSIVE windstorm that hit my town and many surrounding areas across a significant portion of the entire state of Iowa with 100+MPH winds (in my case, 130MPH) back on July 11, 2011.
On Monday, August 10th, 2020...it happened again.
This time, the worst of it passed just south of me, so my town was spared a majority of the serious damage. Structurally there are a few broken windows around and lost shingles or roof materials, but otherwise almost all of the damage right in my town this time was tree damage. Lots and lots of tree damage.
Drive south from my town a couple miles, and you begin to see corn fields completely flat on both sides of the highway.
Drive another two miles south from there, and you begin to see buildings with serious damage and power lines down.
Drive one mile further, and you begin to see buildings that were completely destroyed.
Stop right at that point. Five miles south of my town. The winds were powerful enough to destroy barns, sheds, and in a few cases, houses. This wasn't a tornado, this was straight-line winds exceeding 100MPH. The highest measured wind gust I've seen officially reported out of this storm was 112MPH. That's equivalent to a category 3 hurricane. That's what it was like for 30 CONTINUOUS MINUTES just five miles south of my town.
Imagine those conditions.
NOW, imagine these conditions being generated by a wall of storms 60 MILES wide, plowing across 200 miles of the state of Iowa, from west of Des Moines all the way to the Mississippi River...and then on into Illinois all the way to and beyond Chicago.
Not a single little supercell thunderstorm or cluster of storms hitting a few towns here and there. We're talking friggin' BULLDOZER of storms screaming across the land at 70+MPH while generating 100+MPH winds along its entire breadth and path.
This is a derecho.
This is what Iowa had to deal with on July 11, 2011...and it is what Iowa had to deal with again last week, on August 10, 2020.
Many people lost their homes, while many more had serious damage. Likewise, a lot of businesses were also destroyed or severely damaged. Over 40% of our corn and soybean crops are destroyed, which means the prices of food and other products that utilize corn and soybeans will go up over the next many months not just in Iowa, but across the entire country. Nearly half a million people in Iowa alone lost electricity from this storm. Many of them have it back now, but several tens of thousands still don't have power now six days later, and many of THOSE people aren't expecting to get power back for at least another week.
The city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, population approximately 120,000, got hit hard by a major flood back in 2008. I'm sure you remember hearing about it on the news, it was the top story on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc. for several days in a row. The destruction in Cedar Rapids from this derecho is much, MUCH worse than the 2008 flood...
...and I bet you didn't even know it happened, because the news is ignoring us this time.
Financial assistance and recovery follows the news in events like this, it's an unfortunate truth. Since the news never came and told the country what is happening here, the assistance is not coming.
WE. NEED. HELP.
No, I'm NOT saying >I< need help. I personally am fine. Since my town was spared the major damage from this particular storm, my apartment had no damage, no power lines within town were taken down, and we had power back within hours thanks to the fact that this town is small enough to have its own emergency backup power plant. In fact, my town became a safe haven for people from Cedar Rapids and other impacted areas, coming here to buy gas, ice, water and groceries since we were one of the closest towns to have power the following day.
What I'm saying is that we, the state of Iowa, need help.
I must admit I didn't plan ahead of time while typing this journal out, so I don't have any ready-made links to post here for you to look at and determine how to help my state. But, one thing I can do is simply request that you spread the word. Tell people what has happened here. The more people that know about this, the more likely the millions of people affected by this storm (not just in Iowa, but also in Illinois!) will get the assistance we need to rebuild our homes and our lives.
Tell people. If you know ways to help, certainly look into it if you are able and willing. But at the very least, tell people, and spread the word.
We need help...
==============
UPDATE: Field surveys are now saying that the maximum wind speeds from this derecho were around 140MPH.
One hundred and forty fucking miles per hour.
That's as strong as a major category 4 hurricane.
On Monday, August 10th, 2020...it happened again.
This time, the worst of it passed just south of me, so my town was spared a majority of the serious damage. Structurally there are a few broken windows around and lost shingles or roof materials, but otherwise almost all of the damage right in my town this time was tree damage. Lots and lots of tree damage.
Drive south from my town a couple miles, and you begin to see corn fields completely flat on both sides of the highway.
Drive another two miles south from there, and you begin to see buildings with serious damage and power lines down.
Drive one mile further, and you begin to see buildings that were completely destroyed.
Stop right at that point. Five miles south of my town. The winds were powerful enough to destroy barns, sheds, and in a few cases, houses. This wasn't a tornado, this was straight-line winds exceeding 100MPH. The highest measured wind gust I've seen officially reported out of this storm was 112MPH. That's equivalent to a category 3 hurricane. That's what it was like for 30 CONTINUOUS MINUTES just five miles south of my town.
Imagine those conditions.
NOW, imagine these conditions being generated by a wall of storms 60 MILES wide, plowing across 200 miles of the state of Iowa, from west of Des Moines all the way to the Mississippi River...and then on into Illinois all the way to and beyond Chicago.
Not a single little supercell thunderstorm or cluster of storms hitting a few towns here and there. We're talking friggin' BULLDOZER of storms screaming across the land at 70+MPH while generating 100+MPH winds along its entire breadth and path.
This is a derecho.
This is what Iowa had to deal with on July 11, 2011...and it is what Iowa had to deal with again last week, on August 10, 2020.
Many people lost their homes, while many more had serious damage. Likewise, a lot of businesses were also destroyed or severely damaged. Over 40% of our corn and soybean crops are destroyed, which means the prices of food and other products that utilize corn and soybeans will go up over the next many months not just in Iowa, but across the entire country. Nearly half a million people in Iowa alone lost electricity from this storm. Many of them have it back now, but several tens of thousands still don't have power now six days later, and many of THOSE people aren't expecting to get power back for at least another week.
The city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, population approximately 120,000, got hit hard by a major flood back in 2008. I'm sure you remember hearing about it on the news, it was the top story on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, etc. for several days in a row. The destruction in Cedar Rapids from this derecho is much, MUCH worse than the 2008 flood...
...and I bet you didn't even know it happened, because the news is ignoring us this time.
Financial assistance and recovery follows the news in events like this, it's an unfortunate truth. Since the news never came and told the country what is happening here, the assistance is not coming.
WE. NEED. HELP.
No, I'm NOT saying >I< need help. I personally am fine. Since my town was spared the major damage from this particular storm, my apartment had no damage, no power lines within town were taken down, and we had power back within hours thanks to the fact that this town is small enough to have its own emergency backup power plant. In fact, my town became a safe haven for people from Cedar Rapids and other impacted areas, coming here to buy gas, ice, water and groceries since we were one of the closest towns to have power the following day.
What I'm saying is that we, the state of Iowa, need help.
I must admit I didn't plan ahead of time while typing this journal out, so I don't have any ready-made links to post here for you to look at and determine how to help my state. But, one thing I can do is simply request that you spread the word. Tell people what has happened here. The more people that know about this, the more likely the millions of people affected by this storm (not just in Iowa, but also in Illinois!) will get the assistance we need to rebuild our homes and our lives.
Tell people. If you know ways to help, certainly look into it if you are able and willing. But at the very least, tell people, and spread the word.
We need help...
==============
UPDATE: Field surveys are now saying that the maximum wind speeds from this derecho were around 140MPH.
One hundred and forty fucking miles per hour.
That's as strong as a major category 4 hurricane.
Yeah.... sustained wind is FAR worse than a Hurricane's punctuated wave like rhythm.
I'm not surprised this got ignored. At all.
Found a link for donations BTW. Seems to be useful: https://kwwl.com/2020/08/14/heres-h.....-storm-relief/