Monday, June 22, 2015

Derecho Leaves Damage In Plains, Midwest; 5 Rescued from Collapsed Buildings in Portland, Michigan

Sean Breslin
Published: June 22,2015
Severe weather marched into the High Plains and Midwest Monday with strong winds and even a tornado that damaged a town in Michigan, among other impacts.
"A cluster of severe thunderstorms, fueled by both low-level and upper-level jet energy, swept through the Siouxland early Monday," said weather.com meteorologist Jon Erdman.

Storm Reports from Monday's Derecho














The National Weather Service (NWS) confirms an EF1 tornado, with estimated winds at 100 m.p.h., hit the town of Plymouth, Michigan. Five people were rescued from collapsed buildings; three of those rescued include a mother and two children who were trapped inside a Goodwill, WOOD TV in Grand Rapids reports. NWS did not issue a tornado warning on that particular storm. Weather.com senior meteorologist Nick Wiltgen said the damage was from a separate cluster of storms and was not part of the derecho farther west.
Wind gusts as high as 122 mph struck the High Plains Monday morning, leaving one person injured near Hayes, South Dakota, according to an NWS storm report.
The storms left major damage at Sheldon Municipal Airport just north of Sheldon, Iowa, in the same area where a 95-mph wind gust was reported. In the images at the bottom of this page, you can see several examples of the damage these storms caused at the airport.
Flooding was also reported in Grand Rapids as the storms moved through Michigan:
Here are a few more of the latest damage reports:
  • Hollandale, Wisconsin: Town shut down due to numerous trees down; structural damage to homes also reported
  • U.S. 69 is closed in both directions near Galt, Iowa, because of downed cables. U.S. 65 is also closed near Hampton, Iowa, because of debris on the roadway.
  • Menominee, Illinois: Fire house blown over by strong winds
  • Holy Cross, Iowa: Roof blown off a school building
  • Guttenberg, Iowa: Amish grocery store destroyed
(MORE: Track The Storms As They Push East)


Dan Santella @KELODanS
Destroyed home in Garretson. Resident is safe- she hid under the stairs
More than 17,000 Iowa customers lost power in the wake of the storms Monday morning. Before the storms reached Iowa, thousands of customers lost power in South Dakota due to damaging winds, the Associated Press reported. Via the Argus Leader, the AP also said there were several reports of trees and power lines brought down in Garretson, and four large tanks at a fertilizer plant were also knocked over. While no injuries were reported, a mobile home park was evacuated because of a gas leak, the report added.
Radar recap of the derecho on Monday. Plotted are some of the wind gusts along its path.
In southern Minnesota, storm damage was reported in several towns along Interstate 90, according to the Star Tribune. Between Fairmont and Jackson, a car and house were damaged by a falling tree, the report added.
The complex of storms from South Dakota to Wisconsin qualified as a derecho Monday morning after damaging wind reports spanned more than 400 kilometers, or about 250 miles.
"May through July is the peak for thunderstorm clusters with widespread damaging winds several hundreds of miles long, known as derechoes," said Erdman.
This is a breaking news story; please check back frequently for updates.
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