News

A stormy week in South Dakota

Some farmers in eastern South Dakota say they are relieved after checking fields and buildings after a confirmed Derecho moved through on Monday.

Doug Noem, who raises corn and soybeans in Hamlin County, says the storm hardly affected their farm.

“We’ve been dancing around storms the last month or so and we’re always kind of on pins and needles to see what we’ll find. We had a few tree branches down.”

Chad Schooley also raises corn, soybeans and cattle in Hamlin County, South Dakota and Lincoln County, Minnesota. His farm was in the bullseye for Monday’s storm, but “we were able to dodge a bullet, because I don’t know how much more rain we could hold. Our lagoons at the feedlot are as full as I’ve seen them. We were glad to see this second system miss us.”

Schooley says storms moved through on Sunday, bringing high winds, hail and up to 8.5 inches of rain. Some fields flooded and there was some crop damage, but overall, Schooley says corn and soybeans should be ok.

In Davison County, Matt Bainbridge says the farm only got a few sprinkles of rain on Monday and while he’s glad to avoid storm damage, the corn and soybeans could use more rain.

“We’re to the point now where we’re running short on subsoil moisture. We need something more significant or we’ll damage the crop, I’m afraid.”

Storms developed in central South Dakota Monday afternoon and tracked east before weakening near the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa on Tuesday morning.

Todd Heitkamp, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls, tells Brownfield “we saw widespread winds across the area from 70 to 100 miles per hour, resulting in widespread damage.”

There is some damage being reported in Lincoln and Union Counties. A crop insurance agent in eastern South Dakota tells Brownfield a large dairy has been affected. It’s unclear what additional damage has been done.

Heitkamp says there’s more rain in the forecast, which could cause flooding in eastern South Dakota and northwest Iowa.