The arrival of Saturday’s storm front is captured in a pair of photos submitted by readers. As ominous as it looked, the system moving over the barn of Jeff and Chris Watt of Estelline (above) caused no damage, although it “had a lot of wind” and dumped 1 1/2 inches of rain on the farm, which is about five miles east of Estelline. The second shows the approach of the storm over southwest Brookings on Cumberland Court (right). Teri Biersted said the family was celebrating her husband’s 50th birthday when the black clouds moved in. (Coincidence?) Huge trees came down throughout the region – uprooted and snapped in half – but White was particularly hard-hit. This White home (left) might have been seriously damaged by the shattered tree next to it, but the roof was only brushed by the branches.

n ‘Deja vu all over again’



For the second-straight Saturday, severe weather rolled through Brookings County and raised havoc.

Campers at a nearby state park were caught in 70-mile-per-hour winds which, 20 miles to the east in White, tore the roof from a building and collapsed a steel storage barn there.

The thunderstorm’s lightning touched off a house fire in White, and the winds and heavy black clouds that moved through the area dumped golf-ball-sized hail in Volga (and marble-sized hail throughout the county), as well as about 2 1/2 inches of rain in Brookings during a 90-minute squall.

“If this keeps up,” one observer commented, “Saturday evenings in Brookings and the surrounding area will be getting a don't-make-any-plans-to-be-outside reputation.”

At Oakwood Lakes State Park northwest of Brookings, straight-line winds of nearly 70 mph roared through and caught hundreds of campers in its fury. Branches went down and trees were uprooted.

For camper Scott Anderson, the storm's severity provided an opportunity to teach his children a lesson in the need to be prepared for the power a storm can bring. They found safety after the storm struck. But one group of five people literally rode out the storm inside a camper that tipped over; fortunately no one was seriously hurt, although the family and others at the park were treated for minor injuries.

There were two campers topped at Oakwood, as well as car windows smashed from flying branches.

Several northeastern South Dakota communities also suffered damage. The severe weather cell went through Hayti, Estelline, Lake Poinsett, Brookings, White and Castlewood. The bright side to the nasty business was that injuries were few and minor.

In Castlewood and Estelline, power was out until about 9:30 p.m. because at least 10 power poles went down in the wind.

Some cars in Clark werer damaged by hail reported to be the size of baseballs and golf balls. Hayti reported quarter-size and pea-size hail and trees uprooted.



Bar blows its top

White took some bad hits and had severe damage to homes and buildings. Things didn't turn out quite right for Lefty's Sports Pub and the town's annual Pioneer Days.

Lefty's manager Dan DeYoung said, "We lost a brand-new roof and had a lot of water damage inside. It ain't good, but things go on." Meanwhile he's hoping the bar has good insurance coverage.

Trees were topped throughout White, one felled giant narrowly missing the school.

The sudden storm put an end to the Pioneer Days street dance and took the roofs and shingles off some houses and lifted a steel building where Brookings resident Paul Johnson stores the antiques he collects.

He wasn't in White when the storm hit, but he quickly heard about it and went to check it out. A Model T and some antique tractors were damaged, as were some of his other antiques. And Johnson noted that the "building was lifted over a tractor and moved." He, too, is hoping his insurance will cover his losses.

At about 7:39 Saturday evening, White volunteer firefighters were called to a house fire on 474th Avenue. Lightning had apparently struck the home, creating a large hole in the roof and setting the building afire.

The homeowners’ son had already doused the blaze by the time the fire department arrived, but volunteers remained to put out and monitor several hot spots in the roof.

The interior of the home was damaged by smoke and storm water. Extent of the damage has not yet been determined.

The Brookings County Sheriff’s Department also responded to the fire alarm.

Meanwhile, 10 miles west of White, Bruce had plenty of evidence of the severity of the T-storm. Resident Floyd Kasdorf is dealing with a leaky roof that the high winds "just tore it all off." He called the wind damage the worst he has seen in the 36 years he's lived there.

"Boy, a lot of trees are uprooted," he said.



Storm 'very damaging, not tornadic'

Brookings County Emergency Manager Todd Struwe said he had heard no reports of injuries and credited that to residents taking severe weather warnings seriously.

Residents were alerted to the impending storm via tornado sirens.

Struwe added, "Even though it wasn't a tornadic storm, it was a very damaging storm that came through. I think it's just another wake up call. We're still in the middle of the storm season. It's not over yet."

Brookings city residents were reminded of that, when for the second-straight Saturday, they had a near-biblical deluge – 2 to 2 ½ fast-falling inches of rain in a little more than an hour – that turned parts of Sixth Street (U.S. Highway 14) into a flash-flood, raging river. The roads in Western Estates mobile home park roads again became impassable in some areas; and in some areas standing water was still evident Sunday afternoon.

Most parts of town reported hail, but because the ice was mostly pea-sized or smaller here, there were few reports of damage.

Meanwhile, temporarily-stilled sump pumps went back into action. But in some respects the non-lingering waters didn't stop Sunday activities. And "Play ball" was the call as the Brookings Friends of Baseball Tournament continued under sunny skies.

– From staff reports and KELOLAND TV, KSFY TV, and KDLT TV telecasts