Three years ago this week, the most costly thunderstorm in U.S. history tore through the Midwest. The Aug. 10, 2020 derecho brought straight-line winds with speeds of 140 miles per hour to Iowa. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration reported that the storm caused $11 billion in damage along its path from South Dakota to Ohio.
In the weeks following the storm, crews from across the country responded to Eastern Iowa, helping to remove and dispose of debris. But where did all of those downed trees go?
Curious Iowa is a series from The Gazette that seeks to answer your questions about the state, its culture and the people who live here. One curious Iowan wondered who removed the debris after the derecho and what happened to all of those trees. To answer this question, The Gazette looked at the disaster response in Cedar Rapids, Marion, and the unincorporated areas of Linn County.
Kenny Cincaid of Jamey Flannery Trucking in Hortonville, Wis., operates a claw Oct. 8, 2020, as he picks up debris from the Aug. 10 derecho storm along E Avenue NW. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Understanding the breadth of damage
By now, Iowans are familiar with the term “derecho,” which describes a fast-moving storm that affects a wide area with straight-line winds. By comparison, a basic severe thunderstorm is a short storm with bursts of wind and rain. Tornadoes and hurricanes are rotating storms. The area a derecho damages is greater than that of a tornado because they move in different ways.
In Eastern Iowa, some places experienced high winds for 30 to 45 minutes.
Marion City Arborist Mike Cimprich said that trees typically can withstand 40 to 70 mph winds in short bursts. But because the derecho lasted must longer, trees were uprooted.
“So normally, you see branch failures or portions of the crown break and fall out of trees.” Cimprich said. “With this particular, you know, higher wind speed, we saw a lot of complete tree failures where … the tree may have been healthy and the crown was sustained but the actual root system just pulled up out of the ground because it didn’t have enough strength or support to sustain that type of wind.”
Cimprich’s team used the city’s tree inventory to record trees that were lost, damaged or salvageable. Cimprich said very few trees in Marion made it through the storm unscathed. The city reported losing about 2,600 trees — 42 percent of its canopy — in the storm.
Nearby, in Cedar Rapids, 65 percent of the tree canopy was lost. The City of Cedar Rapids reported than more than 4.2 million cubic yards of tree debris were hauled during derecho cleanup efforts.
Who cleared the debris?
In the weeks after the derecho, support poured in from across the country to remove debris. Assistant Director of Public Works Brenna Fall said Cedar Rapids received assistance from more than 25 municipalities and private contractors, the Iowa National Guard and other disaster relief organizations.
Residents, contractors and city workers focused on reopening roadways that, in Cimprich’s experience in Marion, had been “walled off” by debris.
“Anywhere you turned, there were entire trees down rather than just branches and limbs and things like that that are much more manageable,” Cimprich said.
Cimprich noted that residents played a key role in cleanup.
A downed tree remains after the Aug. 10, 2020 derecho on Cheyenne Road NW in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020. (The Gazette)
“There was definitely areas where we would come in to clear the road and a percentage — half or more of the material — had already been cut and drug off, but there was maybe just one large log or something left that … it was outside of their resources to handle.” Cimprich said.
Cities had to balance the urgency of reopening streets and the important task of recording information to ensure future reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Cimprich said contractors were used to clear debris and keep records for FEMA. Southern Disaster Recovery (SDR) was contracted for debris collection, and subcontractors were brought in under SDR to assist.
Debris Tech was hired to monitor SDR’s work and keep records of the amount of debris that was being moved.
“Debris Tech and SDR provided some training on how to quantify and verify those hauling units and each unit was inspected and verified prior to going into service,” Cimprich said. “And then every time that unit brought a load into the holding site, there were staff there to inspect it and verify the quantity of it.”
The City of Marion had several debris removal projects totaling $32.3 million. Ninety percent of that will be covered by FEMA reimbursements, Cimprich said. The process still is active.
Unincorporated areas of Linn County and county properties received debris removal support from the county, which contracted with Ceres Environmental Services Inc.
“With the help of Ceres, Linn County also established four self-haul drop-off sites for residents who lived in unincorporated areas to use for their organic storm debris,” Linn County Communications Director Joi Alexander said in an email to The Gazette. “Ceres has a fleet of industrial-size grinders to dispose of organic storm debris.”
By January 2021, Ceres had removed more than 1.1 million cubic yards of organic storm debris from the unincorporated areas of Linn County.
Workers with Jamey Flannery Trucking of Hortonville, Wis., unload their debris trucks with claws Oct. 8, 2020 near Third Street Northwest and E Avenue Northwest in Cedar Rapids. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
What happened to the debris?
Cimprich said this is the most common question he is asked, especially as it relates to valuable wood that could have been re-purposed.
Cimprich said that working on an urgent timeline made sorting through wood unrealistic.
“As the material was brought in, a lot of it was not in the condition or not cut or processed in a way that it would have retained the value it had as a standing tree,
“Ideally, we would have been able to take the time and sort and process and find those things to reclaim some money,” Cimprich said. “But if we used the contractor to haul the debris and then it wasn’t processed and disposed of in the same way, it wouldn’t have qualified for that [FEMA] reimbursement.”
Linn County Conservation participated in a salvage harvest in which wood was sold for use in commercial products. A contractor extracted storm-damaged timber from county parks.
“Revenue was used to purchase native trees to help with reforestation.” Alexander said.
In Cedar Rapids, debris was processed into mulch and some logs were salvaged. Construction Engineering Manager Taylor Burgin said that some of the mulch was hauled by companies to be used as a consumer good.
“The portions of the mulch that were not hauled away or used by others can be used as erosion control or are being turned into topsoil,” Burgin said. “This process takes time but will also provide a good source of topsoil for construction projects in the future.”
Kenny Cincaid of Jamey Flannery Trucking of Hortonville, Wis., operates a claw Thursday as he picks up debris from the Aug. 10, 2020 derecho along E Avenue Northwest in Cedar Rapids. The city has contracted with the company on storm cleanup. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
What happens with tree stumps?
In the wake of the storm and its cleanup, Marion had just over 1,000 stumps to remove, Cimprich said. City staff were able to complete about 400 removals in-house in 2021. But more mature trees, which were damaged more heavily than younger trees, left big stumps that required outside help.
“They were very large scale stumps where, you know, a specialized unit or something large enough to handle that type of workload was going to be necessary.”
Frank’s Tree Service was contracted to take on the rest of Marion’s stumps. That work has been completed.
Zach Hughes, an urban forester for the city of Cedar Rapids, grinds a tree stump in a public right of way along Wilson Avenue Southwest in Cedar Rapids on July 21, 2021. Hughes was part of a small crew working to remove the thousands of tree stumps that remained following the August 2020 derecho. (The Gazette)
In Cedar Rapids, The Gazette reported in August 2021 that 13,000 stumps needed to be removed. The city solicited bids from contractors to remove at least 1,000 stumps, but the bids came in too high.
A joint effort with the Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation and Public Works Departments worked to remove the stumps.
Last fall, the city purchased a new stump grinder to aid in the removal process. The city paid $93,370 for the Vermeer SC852 stump grinder.
Cedar Rapids Assistant Director of Public Works Mike Duffy said stump removal from areas between the sidewalk and street has been completed.
“Work continues for city properties like golf courses, parks, trails, and areas adjacent to waterways.” Duffy said.
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