Peter Lengkeek, the Crow Creek chairman, used his audience with the legislature to stress the need for stronger dialogue in solving the shared issues facing tribal and non-tribal communities.
"If you’re not sure the pipes are cleared, you will start to smell sewer gas and your heat could stop working,” Cumings said, noting he was on a roof recently and saw multiple vents buried in snow.
Compared to the past two more mild winters, the two weeks of snow and freeze was an earlier-than-usual challenge for Department of Transportation crews across the state.
The National Weather Service said there’s low confidence in the storm's track and precipitation amounts, but have high confidence that a “significant storm” will strike the region.
With blizzard conditions and once-in-a-generation freezes grinding most of the state to a halt, Gov. Kristi Noem called a state of emergency to streamline aid to local and tribal partners.
