Rows of corn lay flattened at dusk weeks before harvest season in Fairfax, Iowa on Wednesday, August 26th, 2020. Although the full impact of crop yield from the derecho has not yet been determined, nearly 50% of Iowa’s cropland was impacted in some way, according to McKinsey & Company. Their data also concludes that 3.1-3.8 million acres of soy bean and corn sustained physical damage. Of these disrupted acres, 85-90% will lead to partial production loss, while 10-15% will lead to complete loss.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agriculture damage from this thunderstorm was exacerbated by a coinciding drought with impacts across 31 Iowa counties.
Tents serve as temporary housing for recently displaced families from Cedar Terrace apartments in southeast Cedar Rapids, Iowa on August 16th, 2020. With severe internal and external damage, this community became unlivable as housing infrastructure across eastern Iowa was dismantled and forced families to make emergency arrangements.
9 year old Trisha David, known as Sia to her family, sits outside of the Cedar Terrace apartments in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Sunday, August 16th, 2020. The apartment complex that housed Sia and her family was decimated along with thousands of other residential properties throughout eastern Iowa. David and her family slept outside in tents until a permanent housing option was available for them.
A food sign off of 7th Avenue is bent in half on Tuesday, August 18th, 2020 in Marion, Iowa after hurricane force winds, reaching 140mph at times, passed through the midwest. As an adjective in Spanish, derecho can mean straight, upright or right. As it pertains to weather, this term is used to distinguish straight-line wind damage from a severe thunderstorm that was coined by physics professor Dr. Gustavus at the University of Iowa in 1888.
Neighbors Angela Marion (left), and Jennifer Boggs talk outside of their apartments on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Sunday, August 16th, 2020. The Cedar Rapids power grid was shattered and nearly half a million Iowans were left without electricity for days during the peak of summer heat and humidity.
Trees are reduced to wood chips in a vacant lot on Thursday, August 26th, 2020 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Curtis Thomas (left) and Shaundry Phillip play on a fallen tree near their apartment on Monday, August 16th, 2020 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
An older home on 11th Street in Marion, Iowa remains unsafe to enter on Friday, August 28th, 2020. 8,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged with a $23.6 million cost to public infrastructure, according to the Iowa governor’s office.
Jessie Lau (left) and Adam Lau stand in the bedroom of their apartment in Marion, Iowa on Friday, August 27th, 2020. After the Lau’s residence sustained major damage and was determined unfit to live in, they relocated and moved in with other family members for several months.
Ron Thatcher takes a break from yard work in front of his home on Saturday, August 28th, 2020 in Marion, Iowa. Thatcher, who has lived in Marion for 50 years, had to cut down multiple trees in his yard after they fell and caused structural damage to his house.
A large piece to a headstone lies on the ground within Oak Hill Cemetery situated next to Mount Vernon Road in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, August 27th, 2020. Decades-old trees that snapped in half unable to bare their own weight, destroyed headstones and uprooted grave markers from centuries prior.
A Dollar General sign in Marion, Iowa remains unfixed on Friday, August 28th, 2020. Iowa residents and politicians criticized the national media and federal government for their lack of coverage and urgency with this local emergency that will go down in history as the most costly thunderstorm the U.S. has ever seen. The National Climate Data Center and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration estimate the regional damage cost will reach $11.0 billion.
