DEUEL COUNTY, S.D. (KELO) – The cleanup has begun after tornadoes swept through parts of southwest and northeast South Dakota Saturday night.
It was a wild evening in Deuel County Saturday night.
“We just started getting reports of tornadoes on the ground north of Clear Lake., west of Clear Lake, later in the Gary area, Lake Cochrane area. Then, later that evening, down in the Brandt and Toronto area,” Deuel County Sheriff and emergency manager Cory Borg said.
Borg says he knows of three properties that have been damaged by a tornado. One of them is near Gary. The owner did not want to do an interview but allowed us to get footage. One building is destroyed and the roof of the house is damaged. The owner was not home at the time of the storm.
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Nearby, there were trees that were uprooted and split. You could also find Russ Rogness fixing his fence.
“We don’t have any buildings or anything. Never thought nothing would happen here, and all of a sudden, we get a call about 10 p.m. that all our fences are down,” Rogness said.
Thankfully, Rogness received plenty of help from his friends and family.
“Oh, I appreciate it. It’s just wonderful, just wonderful folks. If we had to do this ourselves, my wife and my son and his wife would be here for two days. They’re going to get it all done here in four or five hours,” Rogness said.
Despite the mess he had to clean up, Rogness was still thinking of his neighbor just up the road.
“They got it way worse than I did. Way worse. And I feel so sorry for him,” Rogness said.
Borg says there have been two reported injuries but no fatalities in the county. There was also a tornado that touched down near Kadoka Saturday night.
Tornado damage near Kadoka