CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Sunday marks the five year anniversary of the 2020 Derecho that hit eastern Iowa.

On Friday, Cedar Rapids commemorated how far the city has come in building back with a ceremony.

“We don’t wait around, we do not pause, and we do not lower our expectations when things get hard,” city manager Jeff Pomeranz said.

One of the city’s recovery efforts is the ReLeaf program.

Cedar Rapids lost over 100,000 trees from the storm including two-thirds of its tree canopy.

“Personally in my home, I lost 25 trees. That’s when I stopped counting, it was higher than that,” ReLead program manager Carole Teator said.

City workers, nonprofits, businesses and schools have all helped plant new trees since the storm.

“We are looking to plant 42,500 trees over the 10 years of t

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