Line of storms brings wind, hail, tornadoes

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Several homes were damaged and an entire county was without power Friday after a fast-moving line of strong storms moved through northeast South Dakota, bringing several tornadoes and golf-ball-sized hail.

The National Weather Service said tornadoes touched down in Clark, Hamlin, Spink and Kingsbury counties.

Hamlin County Sheriff Chad Schlotterbeck said the whole county was without power Friday evening, and the fire department was going door to door to assess the extent of damage. The county has about 6,000 residents.

“We’ve got homes destroyed,” Schlotterbeck said. “We’ve got trees down.”

Jim Scarlett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Aberdeen, said the damage in Hamlin County appears to have been caused by a tornado, but the office was still assessing the result of the storm system.

Scarlett said there were also reports of heavy wind damage in Hamlin County around Castlewood and in Deuel County near Clear Lake. He had heard no reports of injuries as of yet.

“The town of Clear Lake just got devastated with wind damage,” he said.

Power was knocked out and trees and branches were downed in parts of Huron Friday. Wind damage, street flooding and power outages were also reported around Brookings and Watertown.