IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Hundreds of thousands across the Midwest remained without electricity on Tuesday after a powerful storm packing 100 mph winds battered the region a day earlier, causing widespread damage to millions of acres of crops and killing at least two people.
The storm known as a derecho tore from eastern Nebraska across Iowa and parts of Wisconsin and Illinois, blowing over trees, flipping vehicles and causing widespread damage to property and crops. The storm left downed trees and power lines that blocked roadways in Chicago and its suburbs. After leaving Chicago, the most potent part of the storm system moved over north-central Indiana.
In Iowa, farmers reported that some grain bins were destroyed and cornfields were flattened by the storm. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said early estimates indicate 10 million acres have been damaged in the nation's top corn-producing state. That would be almost a third of the nearly 31 million acres of land used for crops in the state. The most significant damage is to the corn crop, which is in the advanced stages of development nearly a month away from the beginning of harvest.
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"This morning I had a farmer reach out to me to say this was the worst wind damage to crops and farm buildings that he has ever seen across the state in such a wide area," Reynolds said.
The high winds continued to damage crops as the storm swept into northwestern Illinois but the wind had weakened somewhat by that point. Information about the severity of the damage was still being gathered Tuesday, said Andrea Casali, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Farm Bureau.
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A derecho is not quite a hurricane. It has no eye, and its winds come across in a line. But the damage it is likely to do spread over such a large area is more like an inland hurricane than a quick more powerful tornado, according to Patrick Marsh, science support chief at the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
In Fort Wayne, Ind., Isabel Atencio died at a hospital after firefighters pulled her from debris inside her mobile home after high winds rolled it onto its side Monday night, officials said.
Iowa officials reported roofs torn off homes and buildings, vehicles blown off roads and hit by trees, and people hurt by flying debris. One death and dozens of injuries were reported in the state.
A 63-year-old bicyclist died when he was struck by one of several large trees that fell Monday, the Linn County sheriff's office said. Thomas Rowland of Solon, Iowa suffered extensive injuries and died at the scene, the office said.
Cedar Rapids public-safety spokesman Greg Buelow said 60 patients have been treated at hospitals for storm-related injuries.
Utility officials in Iowa said it likely will take several days to restore power to everyone.
About 150,000 MidAmerican Energy customers in Iowa and another 34,000 in the Illinois Quad Cities region were without power Tuesday, the utility reported. Utility spokeswoman Tina Hoffman called the storm "one of the largest in recent memory" with 275,000 customers out of service during Monday's peak.
Iowa's other big electric utility, Alliant Energy, reported that roughly 200,000 customers in Iowa had no power as of Tuesday noon and said it "could take several days before the majority of services are restored."
Alliant Vice President Terry Kouba said customers in rural areas can expect the longest wait for power restoration.
Power and internet failures were widespread in the state's three largest metropolitan areas, of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, where residents continued to clean up tree damage. The power failures were so extensive that at one point Monday, 97% of households in Linn County, which includes Cedar Rapids, were in the dark, Reynolds said.
In Wisconsin, WE Energies reported that about 4,200 customers remained without power on Tuesday morning.
Information for this article was contributed by Rick Callahan and David Pitt of The Associated Press.