BROOKINGS – Storms that passed through eastern South Dakota on Saturday morning brought high winds that toppled trees and damaged farm outbuildings.
The National Weather Service says a wind gust of 66 mph was reported at the Sioux Falls airport, while the Brookings airport reported a 75 mph wind gust.
There was both tree and property damage throughout Brookings. Large branches and even entire trees toppled onto some Brookings streets, parks and yards, with a few landing on vehicles and at least one home.
Some street lights were damaged in the storm, and what appeared to be part of a roof covering was lying on the ground next to the Old Armory on Main Avenue after the storm.
Brookings County Sheriff Marty Stanwick and Brookings County Emergency Manager Bob Hill said the worst of the damage outside Brookings city limits seemed to be centered in White.
The storm forced the community to cancel its Pioneer Days parade, but the rest of the festivities went on as planned, except pushed back two hours.
Hill said trees and branches covered streets and yards in White, and one tree even landed on a home there, but there were no reports of injuries.
He said much of the tree damage he saw in both White and Brookings was old-growth trees, “trees that are really old and the branches are getting to the point where they probably need to be trimmed anyway, but we just don’t get around to it and Mother Nature takes care of it.”
Of White and its efforts to get things cleaned up so Pioneer Days could resume, Hill said, “The City of White, the mayor and the fire department, the whole community came out and really did a good job up there of cleaning it up.”
Hill said there was quite a bit of damage in the southern part of Brookings, too, in a mobile home park on Western Avenue, with tree damage and a mobile home that may have been shifted off its foundation.
“The citizens in Brookings County, whether it was White or Brookings, they all came out to help their neighbors, and we didn’t have to call outside to help with anything,” Hill added.
The Argus Leader reports that damage from the storms delayed JazzFest by several hours. The city of Sioux Falls closed a public swimming pool due to storm damage, and Pioneer Spray Park was also closed due to electrical issues from the storm.
Dozens of Twitter users posted pictures of downed trees and power lines. Some photos showed large trees blocking streets.
The storms followed intense heat and humidity on Friday. A portion of Interstate 229 in Sioux Falls buckled Friday under the extreme heat.
