8/11 Storm Damage Recap

Jackson County and surrounding areas woke up to severe thunderstorms Tuesday morning. At around 7:23am Tuesday morning the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for the whole area for wind gusts up to 85 Miles Per Hour likely, hail up to the size of ping pong balls, a couple of tornadoes possible. Then 10 minutes later our first Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued.  Then at 7:59am the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities issued the 2nd Severe Thunderstorm Warning for winds up to 70 mph. Then at 8:01 am the National Weather Service of the Quad Cities issued a Tornado Warning for radar indicated rotation. Then at 8:30am The National Weather Service in the Quad Cities stated that a Department of Transportation weather station on Highway 61 in Maquoketa had a wind gust of 64 mph. Also this morning our partners from Severe Studios said there were 80+ mph wind gusts with this storm. Along with flags being blown off from the light poles in downtown Maquoketa, there were also reports on manhole covers being taking off in Maquoketa throughout the town. The National Weather Service in the Quad Cities shared why the manhole covers were off: “It’s likely, at least in this case, that that may have been done by heavy rain, which Jackson County had this morning with some storms developing just ahead of the main cluster. The combination of more water in the sewers can result in greater air pressure and can lift the manhole upward (lifted by the air not necessarily the water).” Later on in the evening the Storm Prediction Center confirmed that the storms that rolled through the area was classified as a derecho.

After the storms rolled through the area the damage left behind was widespread across the area especially in Maquoketa area. Since there is a lot of damage the City of Maquoketa declared a local community disaster period for the purposes of Community cleanup. KMAQ News Director Luke Kies talked this morning with Maquoketa City Manager Josh Boldt about the city disaster period issued for Maquoketa with you can listen to that here: https://kmaq.com/2026/08/11/city-manager-discusses-clean-up-and-recovery-efforts-in-maquoketa-after-severe-storm/.

KMAQ’s Brett Massey was out and about Tuesday morning storm chasing during the mess and captured some pictures of the damage across Maquoketa. KMAQ’s Luke Kies also was able to go around town Tuesday morning and grab some photos. We also have some listeners that submitted photos to us under our Facebook post here: https://www.facebook.com/kmaqradio/posts/pfbid02eFZBEK5eMayHTCKD7Pakj2aBwHnLX63LHiga49nRtCoYxksaU2oE7WkpitMzjnpbl/.

The National Weather Service of the Quad Cities released their event summary of the August 11th derecho.

Above Photo Courtesy: National Weather Service of the Quad Cities.

Please note this will be updated with photos, and information from the National Weather Service of the Quad Cities, and local officials. 

Below are photos in Maquoketa from KMAQ’s Luke Kies:

These Photos are below are in Maquoketa from KMAQ’s Brett Massey:

Below are listener submitted photos from the KMAQ Facebook Post: