One year ago, Iowa had to hold it down as a storm the likes of which we'd never seen came through.

NWS Chicago
NWS Chicago
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When we heard the word Derecho, we didn't know what it meant. Derecho is a 1:2, right?

All we knew was that the wind picked up, and it stayed constant. Speeds as much as 110mph were recorded across the state - that of a Category 3 hurricane.

Trees fell, grain silos collapsed, the fronts of buildings blew out.

450,000 people were without power in the area. Some for weeks.

All in all, the storm caused $11 Billion worth of damage.

If you were lucky to have found a chainsaw, you more than likely ran out of chain within a day or two, and had to drive out of the area to find more supplies.

What is a Derecho?

A derecho is defined by the SPC as a "widespread, long-lived windstorm coming from a cluster of thunderstorms. To be classified as a derecho, the wind damage needs to extend for more than 250 miles, include wind gusts of at least 58 mph (severe classification), and produce several well-separated wind gusts of 75 mph (hurricane-force)."

The Aftermath

One photo from a listener in Cedar Rapids shows the amount of debris this storm brought down.

Rachel Dorris
Rachel Dorris
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QC Storm Damage

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LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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