Proof That You Don't Need A Tornado To Cause Massive Damage

House blow apart by strong thunderstorm winds
Monday in Garretson, South Dakota.  

As expected, a huge round of severe weather raked the Midwest all day yesterday, midnight to midnight and beyond.

There were at least 14 reports of tornadoes, and some of them were quite damaging, especially in parts of Illinois and Michigan.

The outbreak of storms also proved that you don't need tornadoes to cause massive damage.

A huge derecho, or powerful squall line swept through South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa during the first half of the day, and the damage was pretty extreme.

There was a report of a gust to 122 mph in South Dakota with these storms.  An airport in Sheldon, Iowa sustained half a million dollars in damage in the storm's 95 mph gusts

The force of the wind collapsed the first floor of a two story house in Iowa, trapping an elderly couple inside. Houses in Garretson, South Dakota were ripped apart by the straight line winds, too.

The derecho, which is a long-lived packet of fast moving, very powerful and violent thunderstorms, finally died down near Michigan, after traveling from western South Dakota.

But other severe storms popped up. Some of them produced the tornadoes I mentioned. Others caused widespread damage from straight line winds, again.

Today, the severe thunderstorms and a few tornadoes are sweeping into the Northeast.  Given what happened yesterday, it's proof that you should take shelter if you're "only" under a severe thunderstorm warning and not a tornado warning.

In some cases, "just" a severe thunderstorm is every bit as scary and dangerous as a tornado.