Huron family feels a tornado's power with Thursday evening storm

HURON, S.D. - From her vantage point, Katie Scheibe thought the storm clouds looked like a UFO from a science fiction movie.
But when the clouds dropped a big funnel into the field west of her home Thursday night, she knew a tornado was on her doorstep.
“It was a full tunnel,” she said Friday morning. “No doubt that it was a tornado.”
She snapped a quick photo and then hustled to the basement of her home and hid under a blanket. Along with her husband Scott, they waited out the tornado as it blew away a three-week old shed and whipped their fifth-wheel camper more than 50 yards away. Their home had siding ripped off and windows blown in. Despite the damage, they consider themselves lucky, especially compared to families who have lost everything in other recent tornados such as Wessington Springs and Delmont.
“We still have a good part of our house,” she said. “I’m trying to think of everything that’s in my camper and that’s minimal compared to what other people have lost.”
The Scheibe residence, about eight miles south of Huron and just north of the Beadle-Sanborn County line, was among the few reported to take damage from a strong line of slow-moving storms that moved across south central and eastern South Dakota, according to local officials.
National Weather Service Sioux Falls Office Warning Coordination Meteorologist Todd Heitkamp said Friday the damage survey at the Scheibe residence showed winds of 115 mph and rated as an EF-1 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
Family and friends covered one-third of a mile north at the Scheibe home to pick up pieces metal and wood pieces of rafters to their shed, which used to measure 50 feet by 70 feet and stood 20 feet tall.
The 40-foot camper was twisted into a big “wad,” as Scheibe described it, and tossed into a nearby field. A Chevy pickup was battered but remained in place, while a four-wheel side-by-side was among the items lying in the nearby bean field. Across Scheibe’s home on the other side of state Highway 37, a corn field had crops pushed over but not flattened.
“We’re not replaceable, but buildings are and materialistic things are,” Scheibe said. “We’re OK.”
Other areas saw the threat of tornadoes but didn’t see much damage. Sanborn County Sheriff Tom Fridley said his office did not receive any calls about structural damage in the area.
“We got some large hail that stripped some crops, but it didn’t devastate it,” he said. “As slow as the storm moved, we’re lucky there was no devastation.”
Farther east in Miner County, tornadoes were spotted near Fedora and Roswell, according to the National Weather Service. Larry Kieffer, who runs Kieffer Oil Company in Fedora, said locals hadn’t reported much damage, despite the storms being the talk of the area.
“Apparently a lot of people got a good soaking from the storm, especially north of here,” Kieffer said. “I guess we’re fortunate.”