Have you heard of this? (Storm)

[Ausmumof3]

I also saw news on a guy standing in a corn crop that was completely flattened and felt pretty bad for him but I can’t remember the location other than somewhere US.  So heartbreaking seeing a years work and such a beautiful looking crop wiped out like that.

[Ausmumof3]

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-17/fire-tornado-tears-through-california-as-us-wildfires-rage/12565890
 

here’s some wildfire coverage we had here in Aus

[Pen]

11 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I did see the fire tornado I think first on BNO twitter feed then on Washington post from memory.  Fires are getting some attention here but I’m not sure which specific ones because it seems like multiple areas.  I have seen cal, Colorado and I think your area?

 

Probably not my exact area as we are having localized small events and fire alerts, but not big news level.  My state does have some huge fire events going on particularly in the Columbia River Gorge area and toward the border with Idaho. 

The fire tornado situation I am aware of is in CA  as you linked, but I think we tend to follow fire coverage with great alarm whether it is local or regional or national or in Australia or the Amazon.  I think fire feels personal to people in other fire areas whether forest or brush.  Or maybe personal for my family because of a house loss to wild fire when I was a baby, idk.

The fire tornadoes add a sense of double disaster — not just a regular tornado that can rip off roofs, or pick up and throw cars or trees elsewhere than they started,  but one spewing out fire and smoke too.  Seems as if fire tornado is a Super-villain Thanos-like weather event.  

But it also seems like the memes that are saying what each month of 2020 is bringing are missing that it seems more like one or more disasters per week. 

[Ausmumof3]

25 minutes ago, Pen said:

 

Probably not my exact area as we are having localized small events and fire alerts, but not big news level.  My state does have some huge fire events going on particularly in the Columbia River Gorge area and toward the border with Idaho. 

The fire tornado situation I am aware of is in CA  as you linked, but I think we tend to follow fire coverage with great alarm whether it is local or regional or national or in Australia or the Amazon.  I think fire feels personal to people in other fire areas whether forest or brush.  Or maybe personal for my family because of a house loss to wild fire when I was a baby, idk.

The fire tornadoes add a sense of double disaster — not just a regular tornado that can rip off roofs, or pick up and throw cars or trees elsewhere than they started,  but one spewing out fire and smoke too.  Seems as if fire tornado is a Super-villain Thanos-like weather event.  

But it also seems like the memes that are saying what each month of 2020 is bringing are missing that it seems more like one or more disasters per week. 

Yes at least for us with dh in volunteer fire brigade etc we tend to follow fire related news more closely than other.

[Terabith]

Yes, I definitely heard, and saw pictures.  It's apocalyptic.  It probably is not getting the attention it deserves, though.

Colorado has big wildfires, too.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Even my husband who doesn’t keep up with the news had heard about it. We had quite the discussion on how to pronounce “derecho “. 

[Pen]

 

They have shown more along with stories on President approving disaster relief:  Pictures of smashed grain silos come through especially.  It doesn’t seem like flattening corn in fields or downed power lines and trees that I saw a few days ago takes that much wind, but smashed metal grain silos almost resemble the Beirut pictures. 

 

[Pawz4me]

Article posted last night on WaPo:

Iowa's Katrina: Help is slow to come for storm battered state, local officials and residents say

ETA: Here's an earlier article. This is another article WaPo links to (Farm Policy News/no paywall). There are other links in the story, including one to the Iowa State Health Department's coronavirus coverage ("a crisis within a crisis") and a link to an article about the 2008 Cedar Rapids flood. Their coverage of this derecho has been fairly thorough, IMO.

Edited August 18, 2020 by Pawz4me

[Janeway]

On 8/17/2020 at 9:55 AM, BlsdMama said:

It's circulating that the rest of the US is not hearing how significantly the Midwest got hit by the derecho - the freak storm being labeled "land hurricane."  Is that true? 
There was a delay between the mayor requesting help for Cedar Rapids, IA - no freaking idea what he was thinking so the National Guard began arriving Saturday.  The storm was Monday.  The utility companies reached out and the amount of out of state (and Canada) companies that came to the rescue makes you want to cry.    My dd got electric back last night.  

So, did you hear? Is it hitting national news?  CR had a major flood in 2008 and they are saying this is far worse.  It hit.... well, everyone.  It was mostly trees, but the trees hit stuff on the way down.  The estimates are 40,000 trees according to a fella on NPR that spoke to the CR forester.  

I heard because I grew up there. I still have friends right now, out of contact. I hope they are okay. Historically, most of the country could not care less about the midwest. They call these areas the "fly over states" and feel about them as just that..not worth a thought or look. No one cared when most of the town was wiped out by floods a few years ago either. 

[Pen]

 

Was talking to someone I know on East Coast who said barely any news in their area, until today. 

 

[bethben]

18 hours ago, Terabith said:

Yes, I definitely heard, and saw pictures.  It's apocalyptic.  It probably is not getting the attention it deserves, though.

Colorado has big wildfires, too.

Colorado always has big wildfires.  It just depends where.  In august, it gets pretty dry here and usually something is on fire somewhere.

[TravelingChris]

On 8/17/2020 at 1:18 PM, RootAnn said:

Neighboring state that was also hit, but not where we live. Lots raising funds to help & sending power company help & such. So, yeah, it is being covered here.

I know the anger about being forgotten. There is still a lot of land under water around here from last spring's flooding caused by the bomb cyclone.

Where are you?  WHere is the land underwater?  

And that raises one thought I have had.  I hear a lot of my news about disasters both natural and non natural from Boardies or Facebook friends who post.  While I do tend to watch one half hour local news cast every morning with breakfast, I have generally not been watching news much--- I am so not into all the political talk.

[RootAnn]

6 minutes ago, TravelingChris said:

Where are you?  WHere is the land underwater?

Farm land & houses within 5 miles on either side of the Missouri River in Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri where levies breached or overtopped.

[Frances]

9 hours ago, Janeway said:

I heard because I grew up there. I still have friends right now, out of contact. I hope they are okay. Historically, most of the country could not care less about the midwest. They call these areas the "fly over states" and feel about them as just that..not worth a thought or look. No one cared when most of the town was wiped out by floods a few years ago either. 

I’m honestly so sick of hearing this ridiculousness. I grew up in the Midwest and lived there through college. I never, ever heard this sentiment then. Living now in the PNW, I’m surrounded by people who either grew up in the the Midwest, have close relatives there, or went to grad school there. The idea that people on the coasts don’t know or don’t care about these areas or people is just plain not true. 

[Sk8ermaiden]

Yes, I've seen quite a bit of news on it.

[Jean in Newcastle]

1 hour ago, Frances said:

I’m honestly so sick of hearing this ridiculousness. I grew up in the Midwest and lived there through college. I never, ever heard this sentiment then. Living now in the PNW, I’m surrounded by people who either grew up in the the Midwest, have close relatives there, or went to grad school there. The idea that people on the coasts don’t know or don’t care about these areas or people is just plain not true. 

Not to mention that we get national news in the PNW too. Whether people hear or don’t hear about things has to do with their news sources. 

[TravelingChris]

10 hours ago, RootAnn said:

Farm land & houses within 5 miles on either side of the Missouri River in Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri where levies breached or overtopped.

Thank you so much.  We are doing a road trip to that area (and more =furthest north will be FT Union ND/MT) and the Missouri River is/was going to feature in several areas.

[TravelingChris]

3 hours ago, Frances said:

I’m honestly so sick of hearing this ridiculousness. I grew up in the Midwest and lived there through college. I never, ever heard this sentiment then. Living now in the PNW, I’m surrounded by people who either grew up in the the Midwest, have close relatives there, or went to grad school there. The idea that people on the coasts don’t know or don’t care about these areas or people is just plain not true. 

Oh, I do not doubt that at all.  But what you or your friends or family care or do not care about is not where the news normally follows and particularly not when it isn't a recent story.  

[Guest]

I had not heard about it but that is no surprise because I have been abstaining from most news and only reading specific articles recently. But I do know what a derecho is in general because we had one here several years ago. We lost something like 16 trees on our property. At that time I had never heard of a land hurricane. 

[MEmama]

I guess I’m unclear why people are complaining? I mean, their governor waited a week to ask for help...isn’t that her responsibility?

I smell a rat. From what I’m reading, the complaining is coming via FB, with the familiar “the [elite] coasts don’t care about us [real American] midwesterners!” trope. Just sounds like more ignorant, partisan sowing the seeds of division to me. Sigh.
 

 

 

[Wheres Toto]

On 8/18/2020 at 1:44 PM, Pen said:

 

Was talking to someone I know on East Coast who said barely any news in their area, until today. 

 

I'm in NJ and it was early last week on our local news, which is out of NYC.   I saw coverage on all the nightly news and on a couple of the morning programs.

One thing to keep in mind is that we still had thousands of people without power, with trees down and houses damaged from Isaiah when the derecho hit.   People are clearly going to be concerned first with their own immediate situation.

[Pen]

1 minute ago, Where's Toto? said:

I'm in NJ and it was early last week on our local news, which is out of NYC.   I saw coverage on all the nightly news and on a couple of the morning programs.

One thing to keep in mind is that we still had thousands of people without power, with trees down and houses damaged from Isaiah when the derecho hit.   People are clearly going to be concerned first with their own immediate situation.

 

Yes . The person who reported not hearing  till yesterday had their own Isaias situation.  Also when we talked further it seems that they had seen some pictures, but on just a cellphone which hadn’t come through well. 

I agree with multiple disasters keeping focus on more local. 

[cintinative]

I've seen hardly anything, but I follow Mike Rowe on FB and a reader asked him about it and requested to send electricians, etc. out.  He responded that Matthew 25 was out and responding. The comments from locals were really sad to read. It sounds so devastating. I was encouraged by reports that electricians, etc. were driving in from other places. There were some interesting comments about the Midwest's self-sufficiency (in a good way) and how they just sort of don their boots and get to work during something like this.  

[Liz CA]

On 8/17/2020 at 7:55 AM, BlsdMama said:

It's circulating that the rest of the US is not hearing how significantly the Midwest got hit by the derecho - the freak storm being labeled "land hurricane."  Is that true? 
There was a delay between the mayor requesting help for Cedar Rapids, IA - no freaking idea what he was thinking so the National Guard began arriving Saturday.  The storm was Monday.  The utility companies reached out and the amount of out of state (and Canada) companies that came to the rescue makes you want to cry.    My dd got electric back last night.  

So, did you hear? Is it hitting national news?  CR had a major flood in 2008 and they are saying this is far worse.  It hit.... well, everyone.  It was mostly trees, but the trees hit stuff on the way down.  The estimates are 40,000 trees according to a fella on NPR that spoke to the CR forester.  

 

I did not hear about it hear on the West coast at all. In fact, I believe you had another thread on this (if I am not mistaken?) and that is where I first read about it. Could be I missed it since I am not having news on 24/7.

[Frances]

19 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

Oh, I do not doubt that at all.  But what you or your friends or family care or do not care about is not where the news normally follows and particularly not when it isn't a recent story.  

Both my local paper and the main state paper had multiple articles about it, as did every national publication I read. 

I was responding to the tiresome partisan lie about the “coastal elites” thinking of the midwest as “flyover country” and not caring or knowing about it. It’s a blatant attempt to divide people and stir up anger and resentment.

[BlsdMama]

8 hours ago, cintinative said:

I've seen hardly anything, but I follow Mike Rowe on FB and a reader asked him about it and requested to send electricians, etc. out.  He responded that Matthew 25 was out and responding. The comments from locals were really sad to read. It sounds so devastating. I was encouraged by reports that electricians, etc. were driving in from other places. There were some interesting comments about the Midwest's self-sufficiency (in a good way) and how they just sort of don their boots and get to work during something like this.  

Today is Day 10.

The update today included these figures:

As of today over 3,000 electrical poles have been placed. Enough new wire has been laid that would stretch from the Mississippi River to the Missouri River and back. 22,000 TONS of debris has been removed.

DS has been working with a church all week and a group from Omaha has worked with them cutting trees, removing from houses, hauling curbside. Gd bless the Midwest work ethic, but without the out of state help I suspect we would dig out forever. I had to go to the edge of the SE side today and it was ten times worse than anything I’d seen so far. 

 

 

[BlsdMama]

If you're reading this thread and you want a "feel good" story - there's this fella that decided he was going to cook BBQ for folks (for FREE) 'til he ran out of meat.  So he never did - people began to donate money and he kept barbecuing and giving away more free food.  Apparently Willy, Willy Ray's Q Shack is going to be our own Iowa celebrity because he's getting (deserved) national press and the movement is on for the Willy Iowa Strong t-shirt. 

The people - the helpers? They're from everywhere - the Midwest, the PNW, Nebraska, an energy company from CANADA... I've never seen such a thing in my life and it is so awesome.  Not like, "Oh, I'm glad this happened," but, man, if it happened, talk about making lemonade.  

The National Guard presence is becoming very apparent.  The trucks making trips carrying debris is AMAZING and you really can visually see a difference (beyond there are lights on now) and I don't know how the city would have ever done it without them... because tired, you know? You can persevere on your own for a while when things are tough - truly tough, but you can't do that endlessly without a recharge - spiritually, emotionally, and physically.  That's what volunteers do - they give a recharge.  ❤️ 

[TravelingChris]

Kelly, We will be travelling through Cedar Rapids on Sunday, Aug 30th.  Is it a good idea or bad idea to stop there and get a snack, gas, etc?  I have to stop approximately every hour to hour and a half because of both blood clotting issues and now, neuropathy issues too but we could stop in Iowa City or even go by way of Des Moines, I guess if that is better for about a half hour longer trip.

[MEmama]

3 hours ago, BlsdMama said:

If you're reading this thread and you want a "feel good" story - there's this fella that decided he was going to cook BBQ for folks (for FREE) 'til he ran out of meat.  So he never did - people began to donate money and he kept barbecuing and giving away more free food.  Apparently Willy, Willy Ray's Q Shack is going to be our own Iowa celebrity because he's getting (deserved) national press and the movement is on for the Willy Iowa Strong t-shirt. 

The people - the helpers? They're from everywhere - the Midwest, the PNW, Nebraska, an energy company from CANADA... I've never seen such a thing in my life and it is so awesome.  Not like, "Oh, I'm glad this happened," but, man, if it happened, talk about making lemonade.  

The National Guard presence is becoming very apparent.  The trucks making trips carrying debris is AMAZING and you really can visually see a difference (beyond there are lights on now) and I don't know how the city would have ever done it without them... because tired, you know? You can persevere on your own for a while when things are tough - truly tough, but you can't do that endlessly without a recharge - spiritually, emotionally, and physically.  That's what volunteers do - they give a recharge.  ❤️ 

Utilities have joint, regional arrangements to provide assistance after disasters. It’s commonplace for utilities and private contractors  to help out and is often agreed upon ahead of time when storms are expected. In the case of something unexpected, there are already prearranged policies in place. Most often we get major help from New York, New Brunswick and some mid Atlantic states. 
 

Last year after a couple of back to back storms the state put up signs all along the freeway thanking the out of state workers. I thought it was a nice gesture after dealing with such devastation. 

[Syllieann]

2 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

Kelly, We will be travelling through Cedar Rapids on Sunday, Aug 30th.  Is it a good idea or bad idea to stop there and get a snack, gas, etc?  I have to stop approximately every hour to hour and a half because of both blood clotting issues and now, neuropathy issues too but we could stop in Iowa City or even go by way of Des Moines, I guess if that is better for about a half hour longer trip.

We were supposed to visit my ILs there on the 27th.  They have told us not to come.  So they were going to try to come by us instead.  They called last night to tell us they are not going to make the trip because there was still so much to be done there.  They did send a video showing that the street is now passable and the power is mostly restored.  The service charity they used to run has pulled them back in full time and it is all hands on deck for the next few weeks.  You might be able to make a better assessment in a few days as long as you are only going through and not staying.  The first day it happened there were overturned semi trucks blocking the interstate so people were having trouble getting to other towns to buy gas.  That is all cleaned up now and CR gas stations are functioning reliably.

[BlsdMama]

21 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

Kelly, We will be travelling through Cedar Rapids on Sunday, Aug 30th.  Is it a good idea or bad idea to stop there and get a snack, gas, etc?  I have to stop approximately every hour to hour and a half because of both blood clotting issues and now, neuropathy issues too but we could stop in Iowa City or even go by way of Des Moines, I guess if that is better for about a half hour longer trip.

You will have no problems at all getting a snack and getting gas.  The progress made is amazing.  You WILL see an incredible amount of damage, an incredible amount of progress, tons upon tons of debris (but 30,000 fewer tons than earlier this week) but you will be able to find gas.  Also Chic Fil A on the SW side is open and rockin'. 😉