Derecho winds tear through U.S. farmland, leave 500,000-plus without power

- A storm packing hurricaneforce winds tore across the U.S. Midwest yesterday, causing widespread property damage in cities and rural towns and leaving more than half a million homes and businesses without power.

The storm compounded troubles for a U.S. farm economy already battered by extreme weather, the U.S.-China trade war and most recently, the disruption caused to labor and consumption by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Winds as high as 100 miles per hour (160 kph) hit eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and parts of Illinois in the widespread storm classified as a “derecho” by the National Weather Service.

It toppled grain bins in dozens of counties and tore into livestock farms in Iowa, the nation’s top hog and corn producer. Bin losses, ahead of this fall’s harvest, could leave some farmers scrambling to find storage for their crops, said agronomists.

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, global commodities trader Cargill Inc’s oilseed processing facilities have no power and are shuttered, the company told Reuters late Monday.

Rival grain trader Archer Daniels Midland Co’s corn processing plant there also is offline and being inspected for damage, a company spokeswoman said. No one was injured, she said.

The storm started early yesterday and caused a wider scope of damage than a tornado typically would, meteorologists said. By Monday evening, it was moving east to Michigan and Indiana, and at least 500,000 people were without power, according to media reports.

“This corridor of wind went through and flattened corn and crops,” said Andrew Ansorge, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines. “We’re still trying to get all the information in.”