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The closest thing I can remember was July 1999 in Minnesota. I went out to look up the information on that event and while it was referred to as a derecho, I remember it being called a "blow-down," mowing across 500,000 acres of Boundary Waters. The reason I remember the event is because my sister, Jaye, was in the middle of it. She literally hid under large fallen trees and when it was over had to hike back out of the area. It was incredibly scary for her, as was last week's storm for people here in Iowa.
From what I can tell, the storm destroyed about ten million acres of cropland across a swath in the middle of the state. If (big if) the acreage is correct, and half of the crop was lost, and it was all in corn, the lost crops would be just about 1 billion bushels of corn lost this year. Last year's corn yield in Iowa was 2.58 billion bushels, so it is easy to see this was an unbelievable storm and loss. Beyond the farming loss, over eight thousand homes were damaged or destroyed and at one point half a million people were without power.
In the midst of all of this, I believe we only had three fatalities, which is amazing and a reason to be thankful. The resilience of the state and the people here never ceases to amaze me. I have to say thank you to all of the utility companies sending crews to help out. I heard there were even crews from British Columbia here helping. Simply amazing.
One area that was hit was northeast of here around Perry. My company has a bulk plant there and other than no electricity and finding part of the neighbor's roof in the plant, things were fine. Late last week, when I talked to the manager and asked how things were going, he told me everything was taking longer, but all was good. Then he told me with his spare time, after cleaning up his home and helping with family, he was out helping neighbors and customers get things cleaned up. I'm sure this happens with this type of event everywhere but in the middle of a time when it seems like so much conversation and writing is derisive, it makes me smile to hear people just be good with each other.
During the same period of time, without power or a backup of any type, my favorite ice cream place, Hickman Soft Serve, lost all their product. Once we could get back out and around, and I discovered they were shut down, I worried they may not be able to come back from this. As far as I know, this was their first year in this business and although I have done all I can to help them, the sign on the drive through saying, "Closed - No Electricity" was worrisome. I saw the sign on Sunday when I needed ice cream.
Fast forward to Tuesday of this week. I was still worrying about them, so I called to see if they were open. When they answered the phone, I recognized the woman's voice. She's usually at the window to take my order. I asked if they were open and she told me yes. Ah, the joy. Then she asked if I was the guy in the brown pickup truck. Of course, I said I was. She told me I needed to wait as the ice cream novelty I usually bought wouldn't be ready for a few days.
We have lived several places in the United States, but conversations like this make me know that this is home.
If you lost power, or had damage from the storm, I hope you are getting back to normal. I might suggest that today would be a good day for ice cream. Of course, I think any day is a good day for ice cream.
Take care and be careful.
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/08/19/iowa-derecho-hurricane/
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