A weather phenomenon tore through central Iowa known as Derecheo. There was little to no warning and the destruction made its way across 750 miles starting in Iowa passing into Indiana. Winds 70 to 100 miles an hour made it feel like a hurricane. Mark and I were up early for a horse chiropractor and the air was so thick with humidity, sticky and hot. I heard my weather radio go off around10. I listened to location and realized it was farther south and east. We have seen so many storm clouds pass over lately and get nothing. I half ignored it and figured we would miss yet another rain. Mark called and told me a storm was coming and to get vehicles in. I was thinking hail was a possibility. What came was like nothing I had seen. 10:40AM out of nowhere wind and rain came swooping in. There was no slight breeze, no gentle rain, but hurricane like horizontal rain whipping in with wind. It looked like something you watch on television when a hurricane is hitting. The trees were swaying and wind was blowing rain. I turned on my television to see radar and they just had a thunderstorm warning across the bottom of the screen. Usually the meteorologists is giving a minute by minute showing a radar and giving instructions. I could not understand why there was nothing on live. Again I figured it was a small storm passing through and wouldn't amount to much. I was praising God for the rain that was coming down sideways and praying the crops would stay up. It didn't take long for the power to go out. Mark called in the middle of it to say the shop lost power too. We are on separate power companies. He was worried where to go and worried what he would see when he came out of the shop. Jake was at work and we had communicated a couple times. He was worried about me and I was worried about him. Luke and I went to the basement with a candle until it passed. Without any power, I did not know the storm ripped its way through the state and on for 750 miles. I assumed it was just a local storm. Outside we had some branches on the ground, but that was it. I had them picked up in 20 minutes. It wasn't until Mark came home late in the day, I heard the rest of the story. He showed me images of downed corn, grain bins crushed in, trees on houses and in yards, semis blown over and damage everywhere. We were so fortunate to miss the bad destruction. Mark took the boys on a drive to see some of the local damage. They said it was terrible, the worst near Rippey. Perry was hit hard too. This was not a tornado, however winds reached 113 miles per hour around Rippey. The reports came in of damage after damage. Karen and Orrie lost more trees. We were all counting our blessings and being thankful no lives were lost or injuries. What a crazy storm!!
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