DES MOINES — One year ago, a derecho – a massive storm with hurricane-like winds – left a trail of destruction across Iowa and Illinois. With more than 290,000 customers without power at its peak, MidAmerican Energy crews acted immediately to respond to emergencies, assess damage, repair the foundations of its systems and restore electric and gas service to each and every customer.
To commemorate the one-year anniversary, MidAmerican is looking back at how the Aug. 10, 2020 severe weather event impacted its customers, communities and employees.
The unprecedented storm caused an estimated $11.5 billion in damage across the Midwest and was the costliest thunderstorm disaster in U.S. history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“It’s hard to believe that just a year ago, we faced one of the biggest challenges our team has ever endured. I am proud to say that all of our planning and preparation paid off, and the team did what it took to restore service to our customers,” John Guy, MidAmerican vice president of electric delivery, said. “While the strength of our response was incredible, the lessons we learned and are now applying to the storms we face are invaluable as well.”
2020 derecho by the numbers
* The storm caused more than 14,000 incident locations and 458,000 customer service interruptions, affecting nearly 60 percent of MidAmerican’s customer base.
* At the peak, system damage interrupted power to 292,905 customers.
* In the first 96 hours, MidAmerican restored power to 86 percent of impacted customers across its system.
* This was the largest storm response effort ever employed by MidAmerican with more than 2,500 crew members from 24 states working at the peak of restoration.
* Crews worked to replace approximately 1,000 distribution poles, 61 transmission structures, and rebuild more than 20 miles of primary distribution and transmission lines.
* Crews replaced or repaired more than 2,700 overhead electric service lines, which is where the customer connects to the electric distribution system, and approximately 60 gas service lines or meter sets.
* In addition to the damage to the electric system, MidAmerican crews responded to more than 1,500 gas leak calls.
* During the first 24 hours in Cedar Rapids, MidAmerican responded to 325 gas leak calls — more than six typical days of work.