Watertown officials are asking residents to keep an eye on their sump pumps as the region faces high rainfall.
The community’s wastewater treatment plant is seeing much higher flows than normal.
The city is asking residents to make sure their sump pumps are not connected to the sanitary sewer. Discharging water into the sewer system increases risk of backups into homes and puts more pressure on the city’s system.
This comes as the city’s fire department warns of downed trees and even a few downed power lines following Sunday night's storms.
Several weather spotters reported a tornado on the ground west of Watertown that evening. The National Weather Service has yet to report any damage connected to that tornado.
All my quick phone clips from the first tornado west of Watertown, SD @foxweather @WxWiseApp @NWSAberdeen #SDwx pic.twitter.com/5qI6LscwWk
— Brandon Copic (@BrandonCopicWx) July 28, 2025
Another line of storms is expected in the area Monday evening.
1 of 2... Todays severe thunderstorms assessment includes the risk for storms to coalesce into a high wind producing Derecho. Aside from the high wind threat, comes the risk For large hail, tornadoes and for areas that I've seen recent heavy rain, flooding #sdwx pic.twitter.com/lTwpPaAjo7
— NWS Aberdeen (@NWSAberdeen) July 28, 2025