South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem says in a news release that the state will issue an emergency declaration.
The Governor has ordered the opening of the State Emergency Operations Center in response to this week's blizzard and flooding conditions.
Tony Mangan with the Department of Public Safety says there's a process to complete before the statewide declaration is official.
"We know that many of the counties are going to be really taxed with their own resources. And one of the the things that has to happen is that the counties would offer up their own emergency disaster requests and then they would come to the Governor who would then declare an emergency declaration."
Mangan says employees with the State Office of Emergency Management are staffing the EOC in Pierre.
Governor Noem closed all South Dakota Government offices Thursday due to the severe weather - and state officials want the public to stay at home Thursday night to allow crews to cleanup from the storm. Authorities also want the public to obey all road closures if they must travel.
This week's storm has led to flooding rains in the southeast and heavy snow in western and central regions.