Bobert, you and P-vine have my sympathy. How sad it must be to have beautiful trees destroyed. I'm glad you have power back.

A few years ago, Kansas City went without power for several winter days. It gets miserable fast.

I had never heard of a derecho before. Here's a page that explains about them:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/derechofacts.htm

Clearly, the terrible effects people describe are not those of the storm itself - they are caused by downbursts and microbursts inside the storm system.