The top story of 2009 in our region is the "derecho."

[rebel with a cause]

Here is an exert from our area paper on this story.

The Southern's top 10 stories of 2009

By Caleb Hale, The Southern | Posted: Sunday, December 27, 2009 1:00 am

"While many significant events happened over the course of 12 months, people in the region will most likely remember Friday, May 8, when a storm brought hurricane-force winds that ravaged homes and infrastructure, felled thousands upon thousands of trees and killed one

The derecho

On the afternoon of May 8, Southern Illinoisans experienced a storm unlike anything many had seen in their lifetimes. A powerful storm bringing straight-line wind gusts of up to 75 miles per hour - and at least one gust of about 106 mph recorded at Southern Illinois Airport in Carbondale - tore through the region. Communities like Carbondale, Murphysboro and Carterville looked like war zones in the wake of the storm. Trees were uprooted and toppled onto houses, power lines and poles were demolished, leaving some residents without power for weeks following the storm.

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The storm was at first called an "inland hurricane," but meteorologists later explained it was an extreme progressive "derecho." The term for a straight-line windstorm is derived from the Spanish word meaning straight, the National Weather Service said.

The storm also affected parts of southeastern Kansas, southeastern Missouri, central and eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina. Estimated damages totaled $500 million."

fohttp://thesouthern.com/news/local/article_ee39bc32-f2a2-11de-9ded-001cc4c03286.html for full story.
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I know it was no worse that other places have it, but it was the worse damage I have ever seen here. Even worse that the tornadoes do in some ways because this was everywhere across a wide region. We are a woody region and we are attached to our trees. Most of the trees that fell in yards and on business' property have been cleaned up but much of what was wild woods are still just a bunch of broken and toppled trees lying like a bunch of pick up sticks scattered along the landscape. Every time we go down the highway it makes me sad because I use to love those woods. I keep telling myself that we are lucky that more people were not killed.

Second story was Blago. After all this is Illinois.