(CNN) A fast-moving line of severe storms known as a derecho stretched from the Midwest to the South Carolina coastline, leaving three people dead and more than 350 damage reports in its wake.

The extreme weather phenomena started in central Nebraska in the predawn hours on Friday and traveled all the way to Charleston by Saturday morning.

Shelf clouds were seen along the line of storms. Major US cities, such as Kansas City and St. Louis, got a taste of strong winds and heavy rain from these apocalyptic-looking clouds.

The term "derecho" is Spanish for the word straight. It was first defined by physicist Dr. Gustavus Hinrichs in his paper in the American Meteorological Journal in 1888.

The National Weather Service defines derechos as "widespread, long-lived wind storms associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms."

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