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Severe thunderstorms caused wind and water damage last week in Rock County, uprooting trees and flooding roadways and properties.
Travel was difficult Thursday morning after Wednesday’s 8-inch rainfall in Pipestone County sent floodwaters raging southward.
The Rock River spilled into the city park, Redbird Field and nearby neighborhoods early Thursday morning.
County Road 4 east of Luverne was temporarily closed to traffic, as was County Road 7 west of Hardwick and many other township and county roads affected by Rock River flooding.
The Split Rock Creek rushed through the Jasper area and northwestern Rock County neighborhoods Thursday afternoon, flowing over major roadways, including State Highway 23, and county and township roads and bridges.
Seventeen miles east of Hardwick, the bridge over Split Rock Creek on 201stStreet in Rock County was completely submerged, as was the road and driveway leading to Arden and Mary Ellen Sorenson’s acreage.
By the time a DNR rescue boat arrived to evacuate them, they were standing in six inches of water on the main floor of their house, which was ruined by floodwaters.
“We’ve lived here 63 years and never had water in the house,” Mary Ellen said
After waters receded, more than 40 family members, friends and neighbors converged on their acreage Saturday morning to salvage what they could.
“My gosh, people are good,” Mary Ellen remarked about volunteers who worked well into the evening. “What would we have done without them?”
The couple is staying with family until they can find a new place to call home.
According to Rock County Emergency Management Director Kyle Oldre, Wednesday’s storm system arrived with tornadoes — three of which touched down in Sioux Falls.
That prompted tornado sirens in Luverne.
“We did not actually see a tornado, but we had reports from the National Weather Services that there was tornadic activity in the area,” Oldre said.
Sirens also sounded in Hills where large trees were downed, causing minor property damage. No tornadoes were spotted in Hills.
Rock County declared a local emergency Thursday afternoon when the Rock River was expected to crest at 17 feet near Hardwick and at 8 1/2 feet at the Luverne City Park.
Estimated damages to county roads and bridges are $100,000 to $150,000, and the city of Luverne, which declared an emergency Tuesday evening, also estimated $100,000 to $150,000 in damages.
Most of the city costs are incurred due to flood cleanup in the park and Redbird Field, which had similar water depths as the June 2014 flood, but damage was far less.
“This was other people’s rainfall coming down the river,” said Luverne City Administrator John Call. “In 2014 we had other people’s rainfall plus our own 8 to 10 inches.”
That meant that last week’s flood waters receded quickly and didn’t deposit as much debris.
“In 2014 we had to reseed both sides of the park and re-sod Redbird Field,” said Luverne Public Works supervisor John Stoffel.
“This time we had some damage to the concession stand and some river erosion, but the sediment didn’t come through this time.”
He and Call both noted that the berm installed south of the Rock River after 2014 has done its job in redirecting water flow to slow damage from rising water.
“It has saved a lot of destruction at Redbird Field,” Stoffel said. “And it really helped out a lot of residents in that area, too.”
The local emergency declarations will put the county and city in line for state and federal disaster aid, should a broader area be declared at a later date.