MENDOTA – A huge limb off of a tree fell in a good spot in this neighborhood near Northbrook School in Mendota on Aug. 10. The limb landed between two houses, causing only minor damage. Trees were toppled and limbs broken off throughout Mendota and the surrounding area as high winds from a derecho (a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms) swept through northern Illinois around 2:45 p.m. The derecho began near Omaha, Neb., at approximately 11:30 a.m. and continued racing eastward causing severe destruction along its path. More than 1 million homes and businesses in the Midwest had power outages, while the outages in Mendota were minimal.