They used to be called “straight line winds.” There was a derecho in Wayne County Michigan in 1980. They have the power of tornadoes without the spin. My husband and his brother experiences it. The power there in Wayne, Michigan was out for a week.
Same thing about El Nino and El Nina...fear mongering with the use of foreign words.
The term “Derecho” is applied to storm systems with very particular characteristics.
I’ve been in or near dozens of high “straight line wind” events that did significant to considerable damage. Any powerful downburst qualifies, as do some gust fronts. Derecho’s (I’ve been in two) have several other qualities, most associated with size and duration / long path length. Maybe 1 in 100 “destructive straight line wind” events qualify as derechos? However, the odds of being in a derecho vs. a typical straight line wind event are a bit better, simply because derecho’s by definition are large and long duration.