St. Francis Manor & Seeland Park
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Derecho Clean-up is a Team Effort

August 31, 2020

On August 10-11, Iowa and parts of Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana and western Ohio saw one of the more significant "Derecho" storms in years. Derecho, coming from the Spanish word "straight," is an in-land storm that surges with tornado and hurricane-force winds. Derechos are known to appear during the summer, as they are considered a warm-weather phenomenon, tend to extend the gusts of wind longer than normal wind storms to hours and even days.

L-R:  Larry Hoch, Ron Nikkel, Joseph McCombs, Craig Probasco, Mark Lloyd and Darwin Klenk.  Not pictured:  Devon DeAngelo, Jaxon Drake and John McCulley.

The strongest measured gust of wind was measured in Cedar Rapids at 126mph which beat the previous record of a Derecho in Washington, Iowa during the 1998 Corn Belt Derecho.

Other top wind speeds for this Derecho include:
Atkins: 126 mph
Van Horne: 120 mph*
Midway: 112 mph
Le Grand: 106 mph
Hiawatha: 100
*estimated wind speeds

Our campus was not without its share of damage including downed trees, damage to gutters, fascias and soffits, missing shingles and an air handler that blew off of the kitchen roof but thankfully no windows were broken and everyone was safe.

A huge “Thank You” goes to our outstanding maintenance team for their quick and responsive attention to cleaning up our campus. As an insurance agent said, “The pace at which you were able to return the community to some level of normalcy was noticed on my drive through your campus on August 17.”

We also want to give a shout out to all the many others who contributed in the team-effort to ensure campus was safe. Cummings Farms provided fuel and fuel tank for the generator, Ray Lang used his lift equipment to move fallen trees, Van’s Construction aided in roof repairs, Rick Swanson loaned a trailer for transporting fallen trees, Grinnell Implement loaned chain saws and blades for cutting away trees and branches that had fallen, Ron Lang provided an area for a dump spot for brush and debris, Hammond Center provided coffee and lemonade for workers and Seeland Park residents Denny Harris and Jack Hendrickson provided donuts.

Before clean up
Before clean up
After Cleanup
After Cleanup
Before Clean up
Before Clean up
Before Clean up
Before Clean up

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