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2003 Mid-south derecho

Weather event

Summary

Weather event

Field	Value
name	Mid-South Derecho of 2003
image location	Gibson Factory 030722.jpg
image name	Damage to the Gibson Memphis Showcase following the storm. Damage to the FedExForum (still under construction) can be seen in the background.
date	July 22, 2003
wind	102
duration	7 hours (3:00 AM-10:00 AM)
windloc	Memphis, Tennessee
fatalities	7 total
damage	$500 million
areas	United States Mid-south

The mid-south derecho of 2003 was a severe derecho event that affected parts of the southern United States, particularly southwestern Tennessee and northern Mississippi, including the Memphis metropolitan area. It left 7 people dead and enormous damage across the region.

Storm

On July 22, 2003, a progressive derecho with straight-line winds in excess of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) struck Crittenden, DeSoto, Fayette, and Shelby Counties, including the city of Memphis. Severe damage was reported throughout the city. Surrounding counties also reported damage. The storm passed through the area between 6 and 7 am.

Impact

A tree uprooted by the derecho.]]Over 300,000 homes, 70% of Shelby County, were left without power in the wake of the storm. Two individuals were left dead as a direct result of the storm, with several more deaths due to fires caused by unattended candles or generator accidents.

This storm was very similar to the derecho that went through Kansas City, Missouri in June 1982, as well as one that hit St. Louis, Missouri on July 19, 2006.

Earning colloquial "hurricane" status

The storm became commonly known in the area as "Hurricane Elvis" as its winds reached the level of a Category 2 hurricane. As the storm crossed the Mississippi River into Downtown Memphis, a barge recorded an unofficial wind reading of 108 mph (174 km/h). Coincidentally, the National Hurricane Center's rotation of tropical cyclone names had identified that season's "D" storm, "Danny," only two days earlier, thus the region's next real hurricane, Hurricane Erika (2003), would also start with an "E." The National Weather Service refers to the storm as the "Mid South Derecho of 2003".

Aftermath

FEMA dispute

In 2009, the United States Department of Homeland Security claimed that the city of Memphis owed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) $2 million. It claimed that Memphis misspent the money that was originally given to help clean up the city following Hurricane Elvis.

References

(22 July 2021). "Remembering "Hurricane Elvis" 18 years later".
Scott J. McNeil. "The Mid South Derecho - 22 July 2003".
Charlier, Tom; [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CA&p_theme=ca&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_text_search-0=%22hurricane%20elvis%20the%20legwork%22&s_dispstring=hurricane%20elvis%20the%20legwork%20AND%20date(2004)&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=2004&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no "Hurricane Elvis: The Legwork,"] 2004-07-18, ''The Commercial Appeal'' (Memphis daily paper), accessed 2008-12-26
"FEMA may ask Memphis to repay $2 million» the Commercial Appeal".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

meteorological-events-in-2003 derechos-in-the-united-states natural-disasters-in-tennessee history-of-memphis,-tennessee 2003-natural-disasters-in-the-united-states july-2003-in-the-united-states

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