On July 1, In eastern U.S, pleasant summer showers suddenly turned into a series of nasty thunderstorms. Sounds like a scene from a movie right? But sadly this is really what had happened. U.S was hit by something what the weathermen (meteorologists) call a ‘Derecho’.

Derecho is a severe thunderstorm which is made up of extremely strong winds that move in straight-line with huge speeds. Look at this:

Derechos often come in groups, one after the other and therefore are very damaging. Unlike other thunderstorms, Derecho storms hit suddenly, without a warning. They bring along some very forceful winds that are accompanied by rain and frequent lightning from all directions.
A Derecho causes big damage in only a short time period. It topples huge trees, damages roads, upturns vehicles and sometimes even destroys houses.

Some of the states badly effected by the Derecho storm are West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The recent July storms left thousands of people without power. A lot of damage was done to property and personal belongings.

Let us hope everything gets back to as it was, soon, for the folks affected by the storm.