On Thursday, May 12, South Dakota was hit with some serious weather, and Sanborn County was included. At around 4:30 p.m., the clouds and magnitude of the storm literally rolled into the area and did serious damage in some areas and then completely left other areas alone. Trees were torn out of the ground, roots and all; buildings were flattened, and powerlines were knocked down. The sky was black as night, and the storm raged for a little over an hour before things started to die down and get back to “normal.” Crews were out almost immediately working on cleaning up the debris and turmoil caused by the forceful winds and torrential rains. 

The aftermath included the destruction of some outbuildings and power outages in some areas of the county. Forestburg was without electricity until Saturday evening. Woony Foods was without power, so the store had to close early on Thursday due to the storm and didn’t reopen until Friday morning. However, Sanborn County fared better than other parts of the state as Castlewood’s school was destroyed, a few people in Salem lost their homes, and a teacher in Sioux Falls lost her life when a tree fell onto her car. It was a storm like most have never seen and hope they never have to experience again.

…See pictures in this week’s issue of the Sanborn Weekly Journal!