SIOUX FALLS (AP) -- Weekend storms brought heavy rain, hail and strong winds to parts of eastern South Dakota, causing flash flooding, damaging homes and businesses and possibly contributing to a man's drowning death.
More than 6 inches of rain fell in Madison, according to National Weather Service reports. Flash flooding closed roads and forced some people from their homes, the media reported. Many basements were flooded and at least two basements collapsed. A 29-year-old man who was found dead Sunday near a creek apparently drowned, Police Detective Justin Meyer told the Madison Daily Leader. An autopsy was planned.
Resident Russell Belvin told the media that the water in the area of the creek was so high that a vehicle would not have made it through, much less a person.
"You couldn't walk. The water was going so fast through here right over this bridge and right on down the street," he said. "My nephew tried to go through there and they stopped him, and the Fire Department said 'don't walk through here, you won't make it.'"
Wind gusts estimated at more than 70 mph buffeted Flandreau late Saturday and early Sunday, tearing off tree limbs, knocking a mobile home off its foundation and tearing the roof from the Big Sioux Baptist Mission and dropping it onto a house.
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"It's amazing how it lifted it clear off and carried it clear over a half block away and dropped it on their roof." Pastor Ray Scott told the media. No one was hurt, he said.
Hail caused an estimated $1 million in damage to hundreds of vehicles at a Mitchell auto dealership, the media reported. The heavy rain made some roads unsafe, including state Highway 19 near Madison, which was closed early Monday. The rain also filled farm fields and swelled many rivers, including the Big Sioux, the James and the Little Vermillion. Some were at or near major flood stage early Monday.
