A derecho that swept through Iowa on Monday, August 10, 2020 severely damaged USHL arenas in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. A derecho is a widespread, long-lived windstorm where wind moves in straight lines.
Buccaneer Arena in Urbandale
In Urbandale, a suburb northwest of the Iowa state capital of Des Moines, the roof of Buccaneer Arena was severely damaged. Buccaneer Arena is the home of the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL. A number of large pieces of roofing materials blown onto the parking lot and draped over the building’s facade. This can be clearly seen by comparing the photo of Buccaneer Arena taken by “Iowahwyman” that we publish on RinkAtlas through Creative Commons to a photo taken on Monday by Kelsey Kremer of The Des Moines Register that was published in the article Here’s some of the worst storm damage we saw from Monday’s derecho.
ImOn Ice Arena in Cedar Rapids
Two hours east of Des Moines is the city of Cedar Rapids, home of the Cedar Rapids Roughriders of the USHL. ImOn Ice Arena, which is also known as Cedar Rapids Ice Arena was also severely damaged. The Roughriders say on their website, “The #derecho wind swept our town, but not our spirit. We are grateful today that no one was in our building and can report no injuries, unfortunately, the Stable took a beating. We the process of learning the damage and what lies ahead. The minute we know, you will know.”
The Gazette, a newspaper published in Cedar Rapids. reported in June that ImOn Ice Arena would be closed until September for major renovations including “replacement of the original, 20-year-old HVAC system and ice surface brine pumps, as well as LED lighting upgrades”. However, the damage to the building from the derecho is unmistakable.
The damage to ImOn Ice Arena is not as easy to see by comparing photos, simply because the photo we use on RinkAtlas is of the entrance to the building, while the damage appears to be concentrated in the rear.
Were Other Arenas in Iowa or Neighboring States Damaged?
RinkAtlas depends upon a network of friends around the USA and Canada to help us learn about and document news that impacts North American ice arenas. The photo taken by Kelsey Kremer for The Des Moines Register was picked up by many other media outlets, which made that part of the story much easier to follow. We’d like to thank Brian Steuer for pointing the damage out at ImOn Ice Arena in Cedar Rapids, otherwise we might have missed it.
We’re truly sorry to see the damage to any homes or businesses in storms like this one. But we focus on ice arenas and park rinks. Were other arenas in Iowa or in neighboring states damaged as a result of this derecho?
As you can see from the photos we were able to find of these two USHL arenas, having photos of arenas is very helpful to illustrate our news articles. If you visit an arena in your area and you find that RinkAtlas does not currently have a photo, please take a few photos according to our Arena Photography Guide. We do our best to credit everyone who contributes photos to our site.
Updates to This Story
- Cedar Rapids Roughriders Cancel Season Due to Derecho Damage at ImOn Ice Arena, RinkAtlas, “CBS2Iowa reports that The Cedar Rapids Roughriders of the USHL announced that they are cancelling their 2020-2021 season due to damage at ImOn Ice Arena. They say that the arena damage is too great for the arena to be reopened in time for this season.”