Ohio Fireworks Derecho
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The Ohio Fireworks Derecho (or also The Ohio Independence Day derecho of 1969), was a severe wind event that took place during the evening hours of July 4, 1969. It affected at least the northern half of the state of Ohio as well as portion of Pennsylvania, southern Michigan and extreme southwestern New York. It was one of the numerous events of that type that hit a region in the United States during its national holiday, the others being in 1977, 1980 and 1999.
The event started out during the afternoon hours as a line of thunderstorms developped in southern Michigan. At about 6 PM, as it reached the southern suburbs of the Detroit Metro area in Lenawee and Genesee counties, it quickly became a major derecho. It entered northwestern Ohio near the Toledo area packing winds that locally exceeded 100 mph (160kph) which downed scores of trees all over the city.
Moving at a fairly quick pace, the mesoscale then hit the Sandusky and Cleveland areas creating extensive damage to some of its suburbs including Lakewood, Rocky Hill and Linndale. Major damage was also reported over communities right along the Lake Erie shoreline. Winds also peaked near 100 mph in Cleveland causing extensive power outages.
At about midnight after affecting northeastern Ohio and the Pittsburgh area, the storm weakened and dissipated near the borders of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland.
This derecho event, although short compared to other events, was one of the deadliest ever. In total, 18 people were killed by the severe winds in Ohio alone, including seven in Cleveland. Many of them were from toppled trees. There were also several fatalities over Lake Erie. Several people were watching the fireworks on their boats. At least three people drowned after they were thrown off their boats by the violent winds. [1]. Over 100 boats were destroyed or flipped over on Lake Erie. [2] There were also injuries reported in western Pennsylvania.
