Photos of the horrific U.S. storm that too few noticed

There aren't many weather events more fearsome than a derecho. But few seemed to notice the one that just hit the U.S. Midwest.

A derecho is a powerful, long line of thunderstorms that NOAA says "produce destruction similar to that of a tornado." Such a storm system pummeled Cedar Rapids, Iowa and the surrounding region on Aug. 10. Winds hit speeds of some 110 mph — equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane.

Yet you might not have noticed, amid the nationwide chaos sown by the Trump administration's failure to quell a disease outbreak that's taken at least 168,000 American lives (as of Aug.15), the continued depravity of racist policing, a relentlessly warming climate, the Trump administration manipulating the National Park Service, and the president's candid attempts to hobble the U.S. Postal Service before Americans send in a deluge of election ballots during the worst pandemic in a century. Read more...