Woman Shares Wild Footage Of A Derecho Raging Outside Her North Dakota Home

When you imagine bad weather in North Dakota, a severe thunderstorm with a tornado might come to mind. But did you know that it is possible for inland states to experience hurricane-like winds? A woman named Heather abruptly discovered this when she was woken up by a storm at around 1:30 a.m. — and she has the harrowing footage to prove it. At that time, the North Dakota resident had no idea she was experiencing a derecho.

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Swirling twisters can be deadly, but we should never underestimate the power of a straight-line windstorm. And that is exactly what a derecho is: A storm with hurricane-force wind gusts that are widespread. Before Heather moved down to the basement with her kids, she managed to capture footage of the derecho. You can check that out in the video below…

“The house was shaking and the windows were looking like they were going to burst,” Heather recalls in the caption of her viral video. “Picked our horse run in shelter up and moved it and lots of other damage around the place. This weather this summer has been wild!”

In addition to her family, Heather had her backyard animals to worry about. Although a shed-like building did get lifted and moved to a new area, she is happy to report that the “horses and chickens are all safe.”

If you ever find yourself caught in a derecho, make sure to take precautionary measures. This looks a lot like what you would do in response to a tornado warning: Take shelter indoors and stay away from windows. Plus, you can get under something sturdy, like a table, for added protection from potential debris.

You can find the source of this story’s featured image here!