UPDATE: Extensive Tornado Damage slide show and audio here.
A tornado hit the town of Wessington Springs, South Dakota at about 8 p.m. Wednesday night. The tornado did significant damage to homes and businesses; some buildings are a total loss.
But, at this time no fatalities have been reported. Phillip Schumacher is with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls. His office issued a tornado warning 20-minutes before the twister roared through town. Schumacher says it is good people took the warning seriously. He points out this is the second tornado in South Dakota this week.
“We had a tornado just South of Humboldt, South Dakota that hit two residences, they took shelter with the warning," says Schumacher. He adds, "So it really shows that if you take shelter, even as bad as the damage we’ve seen at Wessington Springs, or that we saw just west of Sioux Falls, you can basically walk away.”
100 soldiers from the South Dakota National Guard are now mobilized for the recovery effort in Wessington Springs. Governor Dennis Daugaard is sending in state resources to help with the clean-up.
State officials urge citizens to stay away from the Wessington Springs area unless they have business or family there.
First responders are still engaged in searching and removing debris from streets and roads. Officials say power lines are down in the community, and there may be broken gas lines.
UPDATE: Extensive Tornado Damage slide show and audio here.