SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A stretch of big wind from a Monday night storm destroyed or severely damaged some farm buildings and crops in southeastern South Dakota and northwestern Iowa.
A wind gust of 99 mph was recorded at 9:30 p.m. Monday about four miles west of Sioux Center in Sioux County Iowa, according to the National Weather Service. A gust of 92 miles was recorded around the same time about two miles northwest of Orange City in the same Iowa county. To the north, a gust of 79 mph was recorded at 9:52 p.m. about four miles south east of Rock Rapids in Lyon County.
Wind gusts of more than 60 mph were recorded in parts of southeastern South Dakota. The NWS said a cluster of storms produced some 80-90+ mph wind gusts as it moved eastward across northern Iowa from South Dakota.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” said Paul Brentlinger of Sioux County. Brentlinger is a volunteer firefighter and an agronomist with Farmers Cooperative Society in Sioux Center.
Brentlinger spent Monday night working as a volunteer firefighter where he experienced the high wind gusts and the storm. On Tuesday morning, he expected to see a county full of flattened crop fields.
On his commute from Orange City to Sioux Center, “I was shocked,” he said. “It was amazing to me that (crops) looked as good as they did. I can’t explain why they didn’t go flat.”
Corn fields had some ripped leaves but they weren’t flat. And soybean fields showed some wear but by later Tuesday morning they were perking back up, he said. He spent part of Tuesday morning traveling around the area where he found those crops in much better shape than expected.
Still, farmers and agronomists will need to watch those fields because they may be more vulnerable to disease now. Also, because of some wind damage, farmers may need to combine in one direction in some fields or parts of fields. Yet, overall, Brentlinger said he needed to eat some crow this morning after telling fellow firefighters Monday night that the storm would destroy one of the best crops farmers had seen so far.
Brentlinger didn’t minimize the damage to some fields as well as dairy and hog operations in eastern South Dakota and northwestern Iowa.
Crops in parts of Lincoln County, South Dakota, were heavily damaged, said the county’s emergency management director Harold Timmerman.
“The leaves are stripped off and the corn is leaning awful bad,” Timmerman said. He’s not sure those corn crops can recover.
Dairy, hog operations damaged
Several hog barns were destroyed or lost roofs in the Farmers Cooperative Society’s service area.
“I know our guys at the co-op are bringing feed as (producers) are moving hogs from damaged barns to empty barns,” Brentlinger said.
Two dairies near South Dakota and some others were also damaged. Brentlinger said he was told of one dairy that had to keep milking even after the roof was blown off.
Sgt. EJ Colshan of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said at least two dairies in the southern part of the county were damaged. Colshan said those dairies were in the area of 291st Street and 468th Avenue called Mount Hope dairy and Dakota Plains Dairy. Colshan said the dairies are roughly a mile apart. Both dairies have the same listed business address in Grand Rapids, Michigan and are associated with Tim den Dulk.
Colshan said it’s possible other dairies in the Beresford and Hudson area may have been damaged.
Now, various hog producers and dairy producers are seeking semis and trailers to haul livestock to temporary locations.
And where corn crops were damaged to the north and west of Sioux Center, “there will be silage chopped in a lot of those flat fields.” Brentlinger said.
Other damage included farm shops blown apart and destroyed grain bins. “One our competitors lost a grain bin…,” Brentlinger said.
In Sioux Center and other towns the storm ripped “huge trees” up by the roots or tore the branches from the trunks.
Maybe almost as surprising as the surviving crops is that as of early Tuesday afternoon, Brentlinger said he hadn’t heard of any reported deaths or serious injuries.
“That’s the ultimate blessing,” Brentlinger said. Given the wind, “it’s phenomenal,” he said.
Timmerman said as of Tuesday afternoon that there were no deaths or severe injuries in the county.
