Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Derecho Caught on Camera

Winds in excess of 130-mph moved through eastern Iowa Monday, August 10th, 2020. One of the hardest-hit areas was the Cedar Rapids, Iowa metro. This video was filmed in Cedar Rapids and shows just how powerful the winds were.

[Smeckledork]

People keep comparing this to a hurricane, and say that hurricanes last for hours while this only lasted for 30 minutes. I'll tell you that the biggest difference that actually makes this scarier and worse than a hurricane is that we only had minutes to prepare for it. No time to board up windows and secure belongs. No time to cut down trees and weak branches that might come crashing through our house. No time to decide whether it's be safe enough to stay or if we should stay with our family up north for a bit. No time to make sure we have enough fuel and food to last weeks without power, water, and gas. With a hurricane, you at least get up to a week or more to prepare. We only had minutes.

[pfroo]

I've been through several tornados during my life in Iowa, and through several floods. This was, by far, worse than the rest. Our landscape is changed forever in a very visible way, and we have a long road ahead to heal from this.

[DGreeble]

I remember watching this storm creep in. I was playing video games and all of the sudden my power cut out. Looked outside and saw a huge black mass in the sky covering it so quickly- it was gut wrenching. Three and a half weeks without power in the summer heat was absolute hell.

[bw]

There’s still many of us without power. This was by far the worst natural disaster that has hit Cedar Rapids and the surrounding areas of Iowa. We are still trying to recover, the worst part was that the sirens only alerted us merely a few minutes before the winds kicked in. Some people were trapped in houses for days because of the trees blocking their exits, and they were without power. You’d have to drive 40 minutes to an hour to the nearest working gas station. A lot of colleagues of mine have either left the state or left to Waterloo or Des Moines for several days and still aren’t back yet. Luckily, things are slowly rebuilding.

[lukekuykendall]

Back in 2006 St. Louis got hit with a similar storm, straight line winds in excess of 75+ mph hit the city head on, knocking out power to 400, 000+ residents. I was a kid at the time and still remember it vividly to this day, one of the scariest storms I've ever seen.

[CarlVandenberg]

I've had the eye of a category 1 hurricane storm go right over my house (150mi inland) and it looked a lot like this. It's not so much that the wind is 100mph, it's that it lasts what seems like forever. And you keep hearing limbs snapping, trees falling...was without power for nearly 2 weeks after that hurricane (Fran). Wishing you guys the best as you recover from this.

[gabrieljordan]

I was 20 minutes away from Cedar Rapids when it hit. I've never seen anything like this in real life. The aftermath was unbelievable and many are still without power.

[autobug]

I'm in OMaha, and our winds hit just shy of 80mph. By the time it hit DesMoines winds were 100mph! I read where Cedar rapids area winds were clocked at over110mph!! It was horrible.

[killroyhero]

It’s almost cruel to pair hurricane winds with absolutely no warning. All I heard beforehand was “it sounds like there’s going to be hail today” and “the power’s out, I guess I have to open the garage manually to get my car out of the coming hail.” Less than five minutes later winds pick up and I can’t see the neighbor’s house anymore. At least in a hurricane, you get a good few days notice to evacuate the area.

[christophergraham]

Was on my way to work when this rolled through, by bar the most amazing intense storm I've ever seen. Never will forget it. Thought the first round of winds was it and jumped in my truck and headed out, 5 minutes later trees are falling all over and I'm dodging powerless. Adrenaline rush 10/10

[jimaforwood]

I have never seen a derecho! I don’t want to see another

[shennonthibodeau]

That derecho in Iowa was a horrific storm and caused devastating damage. I feel sorry for the people affected by this storm.

[dougn]

I've lived in the midwest my entire 62 years and never saw a storm like this. The odd part is that it lasted so long. Usually these are over in 5 minutes

[leonneal]

It was absolutely horrifying! And the damage is upsetting

[lacey]

reminds me a lot of a hurricane. i feel terrible for these people, had little time to prepare. praying for all of you. about to drive from the east coast back to MN, going to drive through there. how devastating, my heart goes out to all.

[aceshelman]

Amazing video! I watched this from my house in Des Moines; it wasn’t as bad as CR, but we lost power for 4 days and internet for 5. One thing missing from these storm damage videos is rural areas. Iowa crops were destroyed or severely damaged across the state, anywhere from 4-10 million acres I’ve read. Iowa is not built for this kind of storm.

[theozman]

My friends in Clinton Iowa told me about this in their town. Omg. They’re still hearing chainsaws during the day. All day.

[trae]

We had a derecho in central Wisconsin last summer. Had never even heard of them before. And I can tell you that the only weather warning we had was for thunderstorms. They are awful and my heart goes out to all Iowans who had to go through it.☹️

[whitneyl]

I live in Cedar Rapids. My neighborhood just got power back.

[wickeli]

Have got two similar storms where I live in the last 2 years, although not quite as bad wind. Our winds got up to high 90s in the first one and low 90s in the second this year