Derecho winds tear through U.S. Midwest

A storm packing hurricane-force winds tore through the Midwest, uprooting trees in Chicago and rural areas, destroying homes and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

Officials on Tuesday worked to clean up and restore power.

Winds as high as 100 miles per hour hit eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and parts of Illinois in the widespread storm classified as a "derecho" by the National Weather Service.

The storm started early Monday, dropping heavy rain and causing broader damage than a tornado, according to meteorologists.

Jack Hill-Burn of Rock Island, Illinois: "You've got big trees, you've got branches falling over people's cars. I don't know if it was tornado but the winds were pretty heavy."

The storm battered neighborhoods in Chicago and more than a hundred miles away in Moline, Illinois, this tree fell on the side of this house. No one was hurt.

But in Indiana, one woman died shielding a young child as the storm ripped through their mobile home, according to a local media station.

Firefighters found the woman and the child trapped under debris. The child was in good condition. The woman was taken to a hospital where she later died.