TUCKER LAW - Expert Iowa Attorneys
  • Home
  • Workers Compensation
    • Brain Injury
    • Disability and Death
    • Manufacturing Injury
    • Neck and Back Injury
    • On the Job Injury
    • Repetitive Motion Injury
    • Temporary Disabilty Benefits
    • Temporary Workers' Claims
    • Trucking Accidents
  • Personal Injury
    • Car and Truck Accidents
    • Premises Liability
    • Product Liability
    • Toxic Torts
    • Wrongful Death
  • About Us
    • Robert E Tucker
    • Erin M Tucker
    • Reviews
Picture

Blown Away — Part II

8/25/2020

0 Comments

 
By Kelly Sargent

I'm an National Public Radio fan; one of the podcasts I listen to on a regular basis is Science Friday. When I popped in my earbuds Friday night, August 21, I was surprised to hear the derecho in Iowa featured and Iowa Public Radio reporter Kate Payne being interviewed about it. Kate describes the ways that victims of the derecho in Iowa, might be suffering more than past hurricane survivors, and having spent time in Florida covering hurricanes, she has a basis for comparison. I've attached a link to the podcast. It's worth a listen. 

Dealing with the Aftermath of Iowa's Devastating Derecho

Picture
0 Comments

Blown away — Part I

8/22/2020

0 Comments

 
PictureOne of the trees that took down our power line and impaled our next door neighbor's garage in four places.
By Kelly Sargent

It felt like a hurricane, but it was on dry land.

Some news sources called it a category 4 inland hurricane, others referred to it as an F3 tornado, but meteorologist and Forbes senior science contributor, Marshall Shepherd, says the correct word is derecho. I’d never heard of it either.

A derecho is a line of intense, widespread,  straight-line windstorms that moves across great distances with forces rivaling those of rotating hurricanes and tornadoes.

Whatever you call it, it was destructive. With sustained winds of 70 to 140 miles an hour, it cut a swath 1000 miles long from eastern Nebraska, through Iowa and into parts of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.

But the worst of it was right here in Iowa.

It came on so fast! The storm-alert sirens started blowing, but we couldn't figure out why. At that point it still looked like a regular day outside. Boy were we wrong. 

It started to rain, but then it started to blow. The power was on and off three times in the space of about a minute at our house, and then it was out permanently. We took ourselves and the furry children to the basement to wait it out. It blew and blew and blew. Later we learned that Ankeny, where we live, had been hit by 100 mile an hour winds. 

Erin’s privacy fence was decimated — 4” X 4” posts set in concrete snapped off like match sticks. At Rob’s, a big tree was toppled behind his house, but fortunately did no damage. When we walked outside at our house, it looked like a bomb had dropped.

Our behind-us neighbor had a row of seven, tall pine trees along the property line between his backyard, ours and our next door neighbor’s. Three of those trees were snapped in two. Our backyard looked like a bomb had gone off, but we were lucky: our garage, house and vehicles were all undamaged. Unfortunately for our next door neighbor, one of those downed pine trees impaled his garage in four places and took out our power line that traverses his back yard.

Below are four photos of our backyard in the aftermath. Below that are two pictures of our backyard neighbors.


Picture
Picture
Above and right: What our back yard looked like after the derecho. Below; Two photos of the backyards of people who live behind us.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Altogether some 800,000 households were without power across the Midwest, 330,000 were in Iowa, and of those nearly 101,000 were in Des Moines and suburbs, including Ankeny.

Rob was only out of power a day. Erin was without power four days. We were out from Monday until Friday night, five long days and nights, and a power surge fried my laptop and it’s backup drive.

Comparatively, though, we were spared. Cedar Rapids had sustained winds of 140 miles an hour, flipping over large RV homes, blowing semi trucks off the road and onto their sides, and damaging most structures at least to some extent, some severely. In Marion, six miles northeast of Cedar Rapids, 90% of the homes and buildings sustained damage. In Linn County, where both CR and Marion are located, 97% of households lost power, and as of today, August 21, 16,000 people are still without power there. 

Ten million acres of corn and soybean were destroyed or damaged. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported that the preliminary estimate of damage is nearly $4 billion.

Picture

We feel for our friends and neighbors. If there’s any way Tucker Law can help, call us or write to us via email.

We’ll be back in a few days with suggestions from Attorney General Tom Miller on how to avoid being scammed by storm chasers . . . sketchy tree removal and home repair contractors who suddenly materialize after disasters.


0 Comments

    Search 

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017

    Categories

    All
    Memorial Day
    Rotary Club
    Shoulder Injury
    Workers Compensation

    RSS Feed

    Note:

    This Blog is made available by the publisher for educational and entertainment purposes only, as well as to give you general information and a general understanding of the law, not to provide specific legal advice. By using this blog site you understand that there is no attorney client relationship between you and the Blog/Web Site publisher. The Blog/Web Site should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state.

Telephone: 515.276.8282
Toll Free: 800.276.5076
Fax: 515.276.4001
Tucker Law Office
2400 86th Street, Suite 35
​Des Moines, IA 50322     
​
Picture
      © 2021 by Tucker Law Office  |    All rights reserved    |    Privacy Policy    |    Disclaimer
    Get website design, email marketing and more at  Brainstorm
  • Home
  • Workers Compensation
    • Brain Injury
    • Disability and Death
    • Manufacturing Injury
    • Neck and Back Injury
    • On the Job Injury
    • Repetitive Motion Injury
    • Temporary Disabilty Benefits
    • Temporary Workers' Claims
    • Trucking Accidents
  • Personal Injury
    • Car and Truck Accidents
    • Premises Liability
    • Product Liability
    • Toxic Torts
    • Wrongful Death
  • About Us
    • Robert E Tucker
    • Erin M Tucker
    • Reviews