(Des Moines, IA) -- WHO Radio News wins a coveted Regional Murrow Award for live Continuing Coverage of the Derecho storm destruction in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The storm hit on August 10, 2020 leaving 97-percent of the City of Cedar Rapids with out electricity. Many people were stranded in their homes by debris that piled into their homes, many living for days without power or running water, unable to call for help or come and go from their homes.

People wondered why no one was coming to help, why nationally there was no news coverage. It may have been because the City of Cedar Rapids and the surrounding area was totally cut off from the outside world. Cell phone service was down. More than 300 cell towers in the area were damaged or destroyed in the storm. Those who did have land lines found they were dead, too.

Internet was down for days.

Radio and television stations were off the air. WHO sister station AM 600 WMT, the powerhouse news station in Cedar Rapids lost a tower and was knocked off the air for more than a day. WMT posted news and information on some of their local music stations during the outage.

LISTEN BELOW WHO Radio News Reporter/Anchor Wendy Wilde provides a series of live reports from Cedar Rapids in the week after the storm hit, once some cell reception was restored and her portable Wifi would connect.

Van Harden

VAN HARDEN

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