2021 Erika Attacks in the Midwest (Killer Erika)

Killer Erika was the worst killer to hit the cities of Cedar Rapids, Sioux Falls and Chicago due to the extensive damage and impacts to those hard-hit cities. In Chicago, a mandatory evacuation order was issued due to Erika being predicted to make landfall as a Level 5 killer. While it actually did, it caused major damage to the whole city.

Form
A weaker system associated with Tropical Storm Erika of 2015, which was some of the deadliest disasters to hit Dominica since Hurricane David of 1979 was absorbed by this killer in order for it for re-form over land as a killer and would later be named "Erika" and maintain Level 5 Status 3 times in 4 different cities according to the U.S Office of Civil Defense.

Impacts In Wisconsin
Tropical Storm Erika would dissipate on August 29, 2015 after landfall in Dominica causing extensive damage there since Hurricane David of 1979. Then, a system would go over land on September 14, 2021 making it to Grant County later forming as a 1/2 level killer and would be declared to be named "Erika". Then, an Extreme Danger Warning would be issued for Grant County in response of the Wisconsin Department of Public Safety. Erika would cause damage to surrounding cities of the county affected with the killer. The Agency asked all residents to evacuate to another county to stay away from the threat. Estimated cost of damage was 500 Million.

Impacts in Iowa
After the Grant County form, Extreme danger watches were issued for counties along the path of Erika, and when it made landfall in Erika's first county in Iowa, extreme danger warnings were issued for the same areas of the path and one message stated, DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED.

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED

ERIKA ADVISORY #6

EXTREME DANGER WARNING

RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL

622 PM CDT WED SEP 16 2021

...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE IOWA STATE POLICE.

* What... Extreme Danger Warning.

* Where... Portions of Central Iowa.

* When... Until further notice.

* Impacts... A killer is expected to move to the warned area for the next 12 to 24 hours. Damage to homes is likely.

SUMMARY: Killer Erika will bring catastrophic damage to the warned area due to its level 5 status predicted by the Homeland Security Office of Killer Tracking. Most houses should be protected immediately before evacuating the area in the path of the Killer. Make sure you have your supplies ready before doing so. Shelters have not been opened in the areas in the path.

DAMAGE: Homes Unprotected will be completely swept from their foundations. Roof and wall failure is likely, Trees will be cut and damage roofs. Mass debris is highly likely blocking roadways and streets. Windows will be shattered completely. Bombings will cause extensive damage to homes.

Call 9-1-1 if you have any emergency.

THIS CONCLUDES THE ACTIVATION OF THE EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM.

Southern Cedar Rapids bombing incident
After Erika's arrival in Cedar Rapids on the 16th, a bomb was planted in the south side of Cedar Rapids, Iowa causing extensive damage there. This bombing caused civil authorities to issue both a Hazardous Materials Warning and a Civil Danger Warning.

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED

CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE

LINN COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA/IL

12:55 AM CDT THU SEP 16 2021

...BOMBING IN SOUTH CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA...

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE LINN COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY.

AT 12:40 AM CDT, A BOMB WAS PLANTED AT THE SOUTH SIDE OF CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA ASSOCIATED WITH ERIKA, A DANGEROUS KILLER CURRENTLY AT CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA.

THIS IS A LIFE-THREATENING SITUATION FOR THE SOUTHERN PART OF CEDAR RAPIDS. SHELTER NOW! YOU COULD BE KILLED IF NOT SHELTERED. HOUSES WILL BE DESTROYED. DO SO NOW!

2 Hours later, it was re-issued by the police with a call from the police chief of the Cedar Rapids police.

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED

CIVIL DANGER WARNING

LINN COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA/IL

2:53 AM CDT THU SEP 16 2021

Announcer: At 1:26 AM, another large and destructive bomb has been planted outside of Southwest 2nd Avenue and 1st Street associated with Erika, a life-threatening killer currently in Cedar Rapids. Emergency management showed that the Water Treatment Plant in this area on J Avenue and Shaver Road had it's pipe broken causing historic flooding in this area and is continuing to boundaries of Wenig Road, 10th Street and H Avenue. People in Cedar Rapids need to get to higher ground now. Floods are dangerous and deadly and you could be killed if you do not get to higher grounds.

Force Thirteen Outages during Erika
On September 17th, Force Thirteen TV's broadcasts around Iowa went off-air due to extreme Impacts of Killer Erika in the state of Iowa. Founder Nathan Foy responded to the outages and stated:

"In order to prevent damage from our power breaches that broadcast the content, we were asked to go off-air because Killer Erika will cause extreme damage to our broadcasting breaches in real time. Afterwards, if Cedar Rapids is cleaned up, we will once again go on-air."

The outages were in effect until further notice by the company. They were once again on-air in January 22nd, 2022 after restoring power from their broadcast boxes from their HQ in Des Moines. However, Wisconsin boxes in Force Thirteen were affected, but went on-air again in December 2021. Illinois in 2022 for the same reason, Indiana in 2021, and Michigan in 2021. However, they were upgraded to have more signal power to avoid overrides and hijackings of broadcasting.

Records
Main article: List of killer records set (as of 2021)

Erika has set the record of becoming the most powerful killer surpassing Killer Brandon of 2019, with a record of 200. The old record set from Brandon was 189.

Erika has also set the record for cost of damage surpassing Killer Juno of 2020, with a record of 40.9 billion dollars (almost 41 billion) in damage to properties in the path.

Retirement
On October 1st, 2021, the name was retired due to its intense damage, deaths and devastating aftermath it caused. Therefore, it will never be used again. It will be replaced by "Evie" for the 2023 season.