Derecho hits Houston with wide swath of severe weather

WLOS — Thursday evening, the Houston, Texas area was hit by a wide swath of extreme weather, with winds reaching around 100 miles per hour devastating metropolitan areas and downtown areas.

This phenomenon is known as derecho. A derecho is a large complex of severe thunderstorms that produce strong or destructive winds over a wide area and propagate a great distance.

Many skyscrapers had windows blown out and debris littered the streets. Several other storm reports have come in since Thursday.

Contrary to popular belief, large cities are not sheltered from bad weather. Since 1998, several cities have been hit by tornadoes, many of which caused significant damage and even fatalities. Nashville, Tennessee, has been hit by tornadoes several times since 1998, causing several deaths.

One of the worst tornadoes to hit a North Carolina metropolitan area occurred in April 2011, when Raleigh was hit by an EF-3 tornado with winds estimated between 136 and 165 miles per hour. Tragically, six people died.

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