DERECHOS AND ELECTRICAL POWER IN CITIES
Often it is the loss of electrical power that most impacts city dwellers following a strong derecho. This loss may be due to falling trees and tree limbs severing or shorting electrical lines, or to direct destruction of the overhead electrical distribution plant by high winds. Large portions of a metropolitan area may remain without electrical power for days or even weeks after a major derecho. The stories of two cities that suffered long-lasting power outages from strong derechos are given below.
JUNE
7, 1982 DERECHO
"The Kansas City Derecho of 1982"
During the pre-dawn hours of Monday, June 7, 1982, a derecho formed over north central Kansas (KS) and roared eastward causing considerable damage and some injuries as it crossed northern Kansas, central Missouri (MO), and west central Illinois (IL) (Figure 1). The most intense part of the storm occurred along a band from just west of Manhattan, KS (orange "M" in Figure 1) through the central and northern parts of the Kansas City metropolitan area (orange "K" in Figure 1). Measured peak wind gusts included 62 mph at Manhattan, 78 mph at Topeka (orange "T" in Figure 1), 90 mph at Lake Perry, KS (orange "P" in Figure 1), and 78 mph at Kansas City International Airport. Gusts were estimated to have reached 90 to 100 mph in several places, including the northern Kansas City suburb of Parkville, MO. Along the most intense part of the derecho path ("M" to "K"), mobile homes were overturned, buildings were damaged, planes were overturned at the airports in Topeka and Kansas City, and thousands of trees were damaged or blown down (Figure 1). Six people were injured in the overturned mobile homes. Much of the area lost electrical power, including the northern two-thirds of the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Figure 1. Area affected by the June 7, 1982 derecho (outlined in blue). Curved purple lines represent the approximate locations of the gust front at hourly intervals. "+" symbols indicate the locations of wind damage or estimated wind gusts above severe limits (58 mph or greater). The red line indicates the location of a tornado track. The other symbols are described in the text.
Electrical power losses affected over 100,000 residents in the Kansas City metro area. For many, the outage lasted for several days; for some, more than a week. The power losses and their affect on the city were captured in photographs published by the Kansas City Star and Kansas City Times newspapers; scanned images from these publications are shown below (Figures 2-6).
Charles Doswell III, at the time a research meteorologist at the National Severe Storms
Forecast Center, experienced the power loss with his family at their home in the northern
part of Kansas City, Missouri. The Doswell household remained without electrical power
for about a week. After the power had been off for several days, food in the family freezer
began to melt. To save expensive meat that was stored there, Doswell cooked as much of
it as he could during the course of one day using two charcoal grills. In the process, he
singed the hair on his hands when some fat caught fire on the grill. The day after the
grilling frenzy, power was restored to his next door neighbor's home; Doswell's house,
however, remained without power. Showing considerable goodwill, the neighbor allowed
Doswell to run an extension cord from her home to Doswell's basement, where electrical
power could be supplied to the refrigerator and freezer. This action proved very helpful
as another three or four days passed before electrical power finally was restored to the
Doswell home.
Figure 2. As the derecho passed through the Kansas City metro area near sunrise on the June 7, 1982, this large oak tree was blown down, damaging two homes on the 4500 block of North Bales Avenue on the north side of the city. This was just one of thousands of trees that were damaged or blown down, many of which severed electric lines and cut off power to the region.
Figure
3. On the afternoon of June 7, 1982, an electric company lineman works on
damaged power lines in the 1700 block of 34th Terrace in the Midtown area
of Kansas City, Missouri. Figure
4. A couple in the northwest suburb of Parkville, Missouri sit at their kitchen
table with a kerosene lamp late Monday evening June 7, 1982,
waiting for electrical service to be restored. Figure
5. More than 100 people wait to buy ice at a refrigerator company
in the 200 block of West 75th Street (on the south side of Kansas City). The
picture was taken about a one half hour after the company's normal closing time
on Monday afternoon, June 7, 1982. Many people had to wait more than 90 minutes
to get ice that was used to keep perishable foods cold in the wake of
the early morning derecho. Figure
6. On Monday June 7, 1982, fifty-one boxes of frozen french fries from a fast
food restaurant in Sugar Creek, Missouri (an eastern suburb) were transferred
from a truck to a refrigerated trailer after power was lost near sunrise because
of the derecho winds. Many businesses had to close and find ways to save perishable food.
______________________________________________________
[Scanned photographs from The Kansas City Star and Times newspapers
provided by W. D. Hirt; permission for display of the photographs granted by The Kansas City Star].
References: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ JULY
22, 2003 DERECHO
During
the early morning of Tuesday, July 22, 2003, a derecho formed over
north central Arkansas and moved rapidly east-southeast, reaching northern
Alabama by mid-morning (Figure 1). Although the storm weakened over northern
Alabama, it re-intensfied over northwest Georgia and moved across northern
and central Georgia into South Carolina before ending by late afternoon.
Many thousands of trees were damaged or blown down. Two people were killed
and 11 others were injured, mostly due to trees falling on homes or vehicles.
Between
6 and 7 a.m. CDT Tuesday, the derecho passed through the Memphis,
Tennessee metropolitan area ("M" in Figure 1), producing some of
the most intense winds during its existence. Numerous homes and buildings
were damaged, and at least 20 were destroyed. Figure
1. Area affected by the western part of the July 22, 2003 derecho
(shaded gray and red areas),
with the approximate hourly positions of the leading edge of derecho winds
(gust front) indicated by the light blue lines (times in CDT are yellow; in
UTC, light blue). The red shading highlights area of strongest
damaging wind (speeds greater than 75 mph). The black "M" denotes
location of the Memphis metropolitan area. The white dashed lines show
the continued track of the weakened derecho that later re-intensified over northwest
Georgia and moved east across northern Georgia into western South
Carolina (not shown). Power
outages in the Memphis metropolitan area were extensive. About 750,000 people
(over 60 percent of the population) lost power, and three-quarters of the
regions's traffic signals ceased operation, causing chaotic traffic
flow. Also, the Memphis airport, an important hub for travelers and freight,
had to be closed. It would take two weeks for the entire metropolitan
area to have power restored (Figure 2). Figure
2. Number of customers without electrical power in the Memphis
metropolitan area following the derecho of July 22, 2003. The values
on the left side of the graph represent the number of customers without electrical
power (in thousands). Each green bar denotes the number of customers
without power on a given day, with the left-most bar representing July 22,
2003, and the right-most bar August 5, 2003 (14 days later). Scott McNeil,
a senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Memphis,
Tennessee, (black "M"in Figure 1), was working a midnight shift during
the early morning of July 22nd. When the derecho gust front hit the building in
which the forecast office is located just before 7 a.m. CDT, winds gusted to over 80 mph.
Scott remembers feeling the building shake, and hearing the ceiling tiles rattle.
Commercial electrical power was lost, so the office's backup generator was activated.
When the winds diminshed, the damage outside became apparent. Trees near the
employee parking lot had fallen on many cars, including Scott's. When he left
the office at 8 a.m., Scott and several of his building co-workers had to use a
chainsaw to free their damaged vehicles from the trees. Because only the
canopy of a tree had fallen on Scott's car, his car received only minimal
damage. After
extracting his vehicle, Scott started his commute home, a ride that
typically takes about 25 minutes. He had to detour around several fallen trees
that blocked his normal route. Nearly every traffic signal was "out," resulting
in significant traffic problems. Scott finally arrived home after nearly
an hour and a half. Although many buildings in his neighborhood
suffered major damage, his home escaped unscathed. As is often
the case in metropolitan areas, the primary impact that Scott and his family
experienced from the storm was an extended electrical power outage. To save the
contents of the home refrigerator, Scott placed food in plastic coolers packed
with ice. By the second day of the power outage, however, ice was becoming scarce
in Memphis, and Scott had to travel west into Arkansas to obtain a new supply.
Luckily, his in-laws lived in a Memphis suburb where electrical power was restored
relatively quickly. When it became obvious that it might be several more days
before power would be restored to midtown Memphis, Scott transported
the food in the coolers to his in-laws' home. During
the period of power outage, Scott was working a series of midnight
shifts (midnight to 8 a.m. CDT) and needed to sleep during the day. However,
sleeping during very warm and humid summer days in Memphis without
air conditioning would be uncomfortable at best. Fortunately, Scott's in-laws
came to the rescue again; he slept in their air-conditioned home for the duration of
the outage. Power was
restored to Scott's neighbors six days after the derecho. But
electrical service to Scott's house was not restored until noon on
July 29th --- more than a week after the storm (see Figure 2). However, the
aftermath of the storm continued to plague Scott and his family. As electrical
power was restored to their home, a power surge
destroyed the television set. The July 2003 Memphis derecho is one
that Scott and his family will not soon forget. Figures
3-10 (below) were courteously provided by The Commercial Appeal (a Memphis
newspaper) and Scott McNeil. They show dramatic examples of the severe damage
experienced in the Memphis area as a result of the July 22, 2003
derecho. Given the amount of damage and extensive loss of electricity, Shelby
County, Tennessee (the county in which Memphis is located) was declared a Federal Disaster
Area. Figure
3. Car crushed by a large tree trunk on Central Avenue in midtown
Memphis. Figure
4. Two children examining the root structure of an uprooted tree
on Belvedere Boulevard in midtown Memphis. Figure
5. Damage to the Gibson Lounge and Gibson Guitar Factory. Figure
6. A house heavily damaged by a fallen tree on Linden
Avenue near Cooper Street in midtown Memphis. Figure
7. Roof and severe structural damage to a building in the 200
block of Front Street, where journalist Gregory James resided and experienced
the devastation. Figure
8. View of Linden Avenue west of Barksdale Street on Friday afternoon, July 25, 2003,
(three days after the derecho), showing pole-top capacitors and associated switching equipment still littering the street. Figure
9. A homeowner on East Goodwyn Street working to extract a large, uprooted
oak tree that had sandwiched itself between the bedrooms of his two young
sons. Figure
10. Damaged car and downed power lines on Linden Avenue. ______________________________________________________
[Information concerning the July 22, 2003 derecho's affect on the Memphis
metro area was provided by S. McNeil, D. Valle, J. Howell, and G. Garrett, National Weather Service, Memphis, Tennessee]
Additional information:
Back
to Derechos in Urban Areas Back
to Noteworthy Derechos list
The Kansas City Star and The Kansas City Times
Storm Data for June 1982
Rockwood and Maddox 1988
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"The Mid-South / Memphis Derecho of 2003"
Scott McNeil et al., 2003: Presentation at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the National Weather Association (Jacksonville, Florida)
The Commercial Appeal newspaper (Memphis, Tennessee; photographs used with permission)
Storm Data, July 2003