WALKER, Mich. -- Early on May 31, 1998, a long line of severe thunderstorms raced through Lower Michigan, resulting in four casualties and $172 million in damages. The line of thunderstorms was a derecho, defined as a widespread line of straight-line winds with embedded severe thunderstorms.
In the late evening of May 30, 1998, a low pressure system lead to severe thunderstorms popping up in eastern South Dakota. These storms later evolved into a line of thunderstorms, gaining speed as they traveled through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Just before 5 a.m., the line of storms arrived on the shores of West Michigan. The line was moving east at 70 mph, and took just over two hours to cross Lower Michigan. Along with four casualties, 146 were injured and almost 300 homes and businesses destroyed. Around 860,000 were left without power.
Thirteen counties were declared a Federal Disaster Area, including Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon. Among the hardest hit communities were Walker and Spring Lake. Both had estimated straight-line wind speeds of 130 mph, which is comparable to the wind speed of a strong EF-2 tornado.
The 1998 derecho journeyed almost 1,000 miles across five states, leaving behind nearly $300 million in damages, six fatalities and almost 2 million customers without power.
Numbers and estimates of damages courtesy of the Storm Prediction Center.
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