It’s now been 10 years since a powerful storm known as a derecho ripped through the D.C. area.
The storm moved across the Midwest and into the Mid-Atlantic region in June 2012. News4 and Storm Team4 took a look back as part of our NBC Washington Rewind series.
“When I think back about June 29, 2012, that to me is just a day I will never, ever forget,” Storm Team4 Meteorologist Doug Kammerer said.
The storm brought 70 to 90 mph winds, ripped off roofs, destroyed cars, knocked out power, tore down thousands of trees and sent temperatures soaring to 100 degrees.
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“I am struggling because I don’t have any power,” one woman affected by the storm said.
“When I heard the roof fall, I looked out and I see it peeling back, and I instinctually just ran,” a man said.
Since then, Pepco has invested millions to make the power system more reliable, including by placing power lines underground instead of overhead.
“I think the derecho showed us how significant weather events can really impact us,” Donna Cooper, president of Pepco in the region, said.
The word derecho itself still sparks fear in many people who lived through the storm after what they went through, Kammerer said.
