Sioux Falls residents and business owners were left picking up the pieces after a heavy wind gust and hail swept through the city on Saturday night, knocking down trees, busting windows and even tearing open a roof at a major retailer.
Saturday storm damage – Twitter photos
Most of the damage appeared to be concentrated in southwest Sioux Falls near Target. The wind gust damaged a rug store tent at the Empire Mall and sent picnic tables flying at Sertoma Park and the Outdoor Campus. Target on S. Louise Avenue was closed Sunday to fix a hole in the roof that, according to Sioux Falls fire captain Nick Luther, was caused by lightning.
Shopping carts were spread out across the parking lot of the store, and large hail busted windows on cars in front of the business and elsewhere in the city. The National Weather Service said hail was measured up to 2.5 inches in diameter in places.
Amy Bettwy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said straight-lined winds of at least 60 mph went through the Empire Mall area after 10 p.m. Saturday.
Southeast of Target, the Outdoor Campus is picking up trees and fixing shattered windows after the storm hit. Several trees were uprooted and some picnic tables were destroyed. An official with the Outdoor Campus said nine windows were broken. Trails around the facility were closed because of downed trees.
"Thankfully, everybody is fine and it's nothing that can't be fixed," said Thea Ryan, director of the Outdoor Campus. "But it's a little tough to come here and see all these downed trees."
The Butterfly House at Sertoma Park was also picking up damage from trees and destroyed picnic tables. Audrey Willard, executive director of the Butterfly House, said the building didn't receive any damage.
The storm also affected homeowners in southwest Sioux Falls.
Nate Rueckert was watching television at home when the storm hit his neighborhood at 69th Street and Western Avenue. He said the wind lifted up the railing on his deck and put it in front of the back door to his house. Chairs, a grill and kids toys were sent into the yard.
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"Everything on the deck within a couple of seconds just went flying across the deck and over the rail," he said. "Everything was just on top of each other."
One woman was injured after hail broke several windows in her vehicle at the Target parking lot, according to Luther, but her injuries were minor and she refused medical attention.
"We saw a lot of damage in the parking lot," fire captain Mark Egger said. "It was hailing when we arrived and there were a lot of windows broken out. We entered the structure and noticed visible ceiling damage. As we got into the structure more, we got into a warehouse or storage room and we noticed a chunk of the ceiling was gone from the storm damage that passed through this area."
Pam Segich was in the checkout line at Kohl's near Target when the storm hit. She said workers ushered customers to the back of the store for protection. When she left the store with her daughter, Andrea Hulstein, and drove away, she noticed the back window of her car was broken.
"We don't know if it was hail damage that broke the windshield or if it was debris," she said. "It doesn't look like hail damage to my car. The whole back window shattered."
When Segich and Hulstein arrived at Hulstein's house, Segich said they discovered that their neighbor's trampoline had been thrown onto their patio, breaking a window.
There was also damage to a couple of businesses in the Empire Mall area.
A loading dock wall at J.C. Penney was partially knocked over, and the Robert Ahola's Carpets tent on the east side of the mall was completely destroyed.
The store next to Target, Ulta Beauty, had damage to the front door that appeared to be caused by a shopping cart. A couple of light poles in the area were knocked down and trees were uprooted
The airport reported .59 inches of rain.
Harold Timmerman, Emergency Management Director, said the LifeLight music festival being held in Worthing wasn't hit hard by the storm.
Residents help others
Robert Ahola, who owns the rug tent, said he rushed from La Crosse, Wis., when he heard about the damage.
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The wind buckled the beams that hold up the outer layer of the tent and exposed his product to the rain. Ahola was working to clean up the mess Sunday, but he had some help.
John Thompson, a 19-year-old who just moved to Sioux Falls from Baton Rouge, La., and who has no connection to Ahola or the rug tent, was helping clean up.
He said he first arrived at the scene Saturday night after the storm went through and called some friends to help.
"All of us used the headlights on our vehicles to shine on to the tent to get everything picked up," Thompson said. "Now today we pretty much made a convoy of everybody and were trying get it all picked up and loaded into a U-Haul."
Ahola was taken aback by the kindness.
“These guys showed up from out of nowhere to help. They secured everything (Saturday night) and they are back here today," said Ahola. "It really shows the goodness of people.”
Ahola said the tent was ruined but that some of the product might be able to be saved.
“These are very durable rugs – you can clean them with soap and water," he said. "So to get water on them is not that big a deal, but I’m sure we will have a storm sale”
Source: southwest - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHVTqFMlyAVVvO4OL4Yv7CZt_c2mg&url=http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130901/NEWS/309010044/Storm-damages-businesses-southwest-Sioux-Falls-Outdoor-Campus-closed
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