Derecho.

Well... we will always remember today as the day that Iowa had its very own hurricane... On August 10, 2020 (in the midst of a pandemic and changing back to school plans) we got hit with a derecho which is basically a really strong wind storm. Wind speeds through our area were as high as 140 mph. I have never experienced a natural disaster of this magnitude in my life.  I had seen reports from Des Moines of a wind storm heading our way and my dad and brother had texted me to warn of the impending storm. When the wind began to blow, the sirens started, and the power went out shortly thereafter. The boys and I went downstairs and listened in the dark as debris pounded against our house. It seemed to last forever, but after about 40 minutes, we headed upstairs to take a look. It was still raining but we stepped outside to see our basketball hoop laying on our driveway, our yard was covered with roof shingles, and many neighboring trees had simply been pulled out of the ground and deposited in surrounding yards. We were lucky. Our home kept us safe. We will need a new roof, new siding (we have about a dozen holes in the siding), and will have to have some water damage taken care of in our garage and both of the boys' bedrooms, but we can fix those things. I took tons of pictures of our damage, but here are a few. Nick's car was damaged while he was at work as well. There have been hundreds of pictures of damage from our town so I chose a couple to put on here. The vastness of the damage is unbelievable. Almost every home has damage in our city. Streets are impassable because of downed trees, and no one has electricity, internet, or even cell phone service. Today was a scary day, but we are safe...

 

It is devastating to see houses and trees like this...

Tonight Nick and I sat outside for hours, just talking and looking at the sky. I have never seen a more beautiful sky! Stars everywhere, no city lights, just us... under the stars. After such a trying day, it was an amazing way to end it!