(ETH) – A powerful Derecho storm struck Tennessee leaving the worst power outage in the city of Nashville that the state has ever seen on record. According to a report from Fox News, The deadly storm literally has left Tens of thousands of people without power in the state of Tennessee.

A powerful line of thunderstorms that formed known as a “derecho” began developing over Kansas on Saturday night, before moving across southern Missouri and western Kentucky by Sunday morning in time to reach the Nashville area by that afternoon.


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The National Weather Service stated that:  “These storms produced widespread straight-line wind damage across nearly every county of Middle Tennessee, with numerous trees, power lines, and buildings damaged,”  Derecho storms are known to cause major wind damage over hundreds of miles.

Fox News reported that images and video that was shared to social media appeared to show the storms approaching on Sunday in Tennessee. Derechos can be very dangerous and produce destruction similar to tornadoes, however, the damage typically moves in one direction along a relatively straight line.

“By definition, if the wind damage swath extends more than 240 miles and includes wind gusts of at least 58 mph or greater along most of its length, then the event may be classified as a derecho,” the NSSL states.

The Derecho storm that struck the Nashville area reportedly produced winds between 60 and 80 mph as Forecasters stated that a 72-mph wind gust was reported at Nashville International Airport, the fifth-fastest wind gust officially measured in the city’s history.