I am Midwestern, and that means when I hear tornado sirens my instinct is to walk out to my back porch and stare at the sky. Every single one of my neighbors does it, too. I look forward to storm season. I watch Twister at least once a year. I love that feeling when the […]
Derecho
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Iowa National Guard starts working on Linn County storm damage
Four days after a derecho swept through Iowa, the Iowa National Guard has been deployed to Linn County. State Sen. Liz Mathis posted on Facebook Thursday evening that “approximately 100 engineers will be fanning out over Linn County to assess damage tomorrow (Friday) and then work with our Linn County Emergency Management Agency to prioritize […]
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State assistance available for Johnson and Linn County households that had storm damage
People in Johnson and Linn County whose homes suffered damage during the derecho may be eligible for financial assistance through the Iowa Individual Disaster Assistance Grant Program (IIAGP). The program, which is run by the Iowa Department of Human Services, reimburses individuals for home repair expenses, some of the cost of temporary housing and purchases […]
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Cedar Rapids schools will delay school year after storm damage; day shelter locations announced in Linn County
The Cedar Rapids Community School District (CRCSD) will be delaying the start to the school year but it is unclear by how long, Superintendent Noreen Bush said in a message to district families. All of the district’s buildings have some type of damage from Monday’s derecho, according to Bush. There is major tree damage at […]
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Local officials declare State of Emergency as more than 100,000 Linn County residents remain without power
Linn County residents continue to feel the impact of the derecho that moved through the state on Monday. The Linn County Board of Supervisors declared a State of Emergency for the county during its Wednesday meeting. Shortly after, Marion Mayor Nick Abou-Assaly announced a State of Emergency in Marion. Marion’s State of Emergency declaration is […]
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Tens of thousands of locals still without power as derecho clean-up efforts continue in eastern Iowa
Clean up continues throughout the area following Monday’s derecho. Almost 13,000 MidAmerican Energy customers in Johnson County, including 8,825 in Iowa City, were still without power on Wednesday morning, according to the company’s outage page. Alliant Energy reports 85,048 Linn County customers without power, and 3,967 in Johnson County. Linn County REC, another regional energy […]
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City of Marion announces overnight curfew, temporary shelter location
The City of Marion will be enacting a curfew as damage from Monday’s storm is being cleaned up. The curfew starts Tuesday night and will be in effect from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The city wants residents to stay home “for their safety so that streets can be cleared of debris and fallen utilities,” […]
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Cities start clean-up of storm damage; Cedar Rapids imposes overnight curfew
The powerful line of thunderstorms that moved across Iowa on Monday left power outages and widespread damage in its wake. According to the National Weather Service the storm’s winds were strong enough to classify it as a derecho, “a widespread, long-lived straight-line wind storm.” To qualify as a derecho, a storm must create “a swath […]
