Struggle Bus - Derecho Edition

 It's been tough lately to get into anything.  It seems that when I get home from work each day, it's all I can do to just get some food in me and sit on the couch watching mindless TV.  Between Covid-19 and the Derecho that hit my parents' house in Iowa, it's been a rough month or so.

Derecho was a weather word I definitely hadn't heard before August 10, when straight line winds estimated at 140mph hit my hometown in Iowa.  When it was over, after more than half an hour, my city looked like a disaster zone.  It's estimated that over 50% of the tree cover in the city is gone.  My parents had a tree in the house and garage for nearly 2 weeks before they were removed this past Sunday.  One hundred year old oaks that had survived countless storms and tornadoes were completely uprooted, and thousands lost their homes, cars, and businesses.

Apparently the word derecho, in reference to a weather event, was first used in 1888 by Gustavus Detlef Hinrichs in reference to an Iowa storm in 1877.  It is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms.  It is commonly referred to as an inland hurricane, and I can see why after watching videos posted from cameras people had recording during the event.

When I first arrived in my hometown on August 14, I cried as I drove down streets that were as familiar to me as my family, but were so changed I wouldn't know where I was if dropped there out of context.  Trees were uprooted, snapped in half, or crushing houses.  A few friends joined my family that weekend, and we cleaned up the downed trees as best we could.  I had an amazing friend from work, Lisa, who spent the majority of her time using a chainsaw and cutting the trees and limbs into manageable sizes.  The rest of us struggled to keep up as we hauled them to the side of the street for the city to eventually come and pick up.  (As of this writing, I don't believe even a first pass has happened on my parents' street.)  Another friend drove down with a car-load of supplies that her friends and connections had donated money for.  She has no connection to Cedar Rapids, other than the fact that her daughter attended college there.  She spent a full day with us hauling debris and cleaning as best we could without power.  We are forever in their debt.

Now, on a daily basis, I call my parents and ask for an update on the status of their home.  Insurance has been out to review it, we have a contractor to repair and replace things, but everyone has to agree on timetables and prices of things.