County hit hard by floodwaters

Rainfall reports throughout county range from 2 to 9 inches

Posted

BROOKINGS – Roads, parks, basements and other areas throughout Brookings County were flooded by anywhere from 2 to 9 inches of rain late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. 

The Brookings County Sheriff’s Office received a flood of reports on the extent of the flooding while the Brookings County Highway Department spent Thursday morning checking on county roads and setting up barricades.

“There are so many, I can’t even tell you,” Brookings County Assistant Sheriff Scott Sebring said of flooded roads within the county Thursday morning. “There are county highways that have water over them, there are county gravels that have water over them, state highways – you name it.”

He added that motorists should not attempt to drive around barricades since floodwaters can be strong enough in areas to take a car off the road.

Rainfall totals throughout the county varied from 1.82 inches northwest of Brookings and 8.87 inches in Aurora, according to CoCoRaHS.org. Reports within the City of Brookings were 6-7 inches.

Brookings County emergency manager Robert Hill says Highway 14 was temporarily closed near Brookings early Thursday, according to an Associated Press report. County roads 27, 34 and 35 had also been barricaded due to unsafe driving conditions.

Although the waters were receding in some areas Thursday morning, Sebring said that in other areas, the waters continued to rise.

“Six Mile Creek and the Big Sioux River are still going up,” he said Thursday morning after most of the rain had passed.

“I can’t remember the last time we’ve had anything this extensive. Not to this magnitude. We’ve had flooding, but not to this magnitude,” Sebring said.

On Thursday morning, several intersections within Brookings had been closed and barricaded for safety.

By Thursday afternoon, Brookings County Highway Superintendent Dick Birk said that county road conditions were good, with water retreating from many of the roads they had closed off earlier in the day.

Of the nine or so roads they had closed, only two remained closed by Thursday afternoon: 218th Street and County Highway 34 east of Bushnell. He thought the roads will likely remain closed through the weekend. Otherwise, he said, most of the washouts and spots where water went over the roads should be fixed by the end of the day Thursday.

And although the northeast corner of Brookings County was hit hard by the flash flooding, the water there left quickly, too.

“It was pretty short-lived,” Birk said. “It came quickly and it left quick. As it gets closer to Brookings, it doesn’t get gone as quickly as it does up there.”

Additionally, multiple parks and recreation facilities are closed for the time being with no through-travel advised. Those include EdgeBrook Golf Course, Fishback Soccer Complex, Pioneer Park, Sexauer Park and Campground and SouthBrook Softball Complex.

Brookings Parks, Recreation & Forestry Department Director Dan Brettschneider said that due to the flooding, Sexauer Park campers were evacuated without issue in the early hours of Thursday morning. Reservations for Friday and Saturday have been cancelled.

“We’ll open it up as soon as we can, but we aren’t going to open any of our park facilities that are currently closed until they are safe for users,” Brettschneider said.

SouthBrook Softball Complex saw extensive damage from high winds that downed mature trees. One such tree fell on top of a gazebo, which is a total loss. Picnic tables were also strewn about.

“We had bleacher systems that were picked up by the high winds and thrown into the backstops. We have a backstop out there that has a bleacher system sitting on it, basically suspended in the air on top of it,” Brettschneider said.

Three of the five softball fields are unusable due to the damages, and the complex has been barricaded and closed due to safety concerns.

“As soon as we get more information and are able to potentially have a game plan for when we can open that, we’ll let the public and users know,” Brettschneider said.

No estimate for the cost of the damages is yet available.

Contact Eric Sandbulte at esandbulte@brookingsregister.com.

Brookings Street Department photo:

Above, the driver of this Domino’s delivery vehicle got out safely and uninjured after her vehicle stalled in less than a foot of water Wednesday night underneath the viaduct. The car quickly became submerged as the driver was waiting for a tow truck during heavy rainfall.

Register photos:

Below 1, the viaduct at about 8 a.m. Thursday.

Below 2, Western Avenue was flooded and blocked off between Pioneer Park and Brookings Municipal Utilities.

Below 3, water between homes at Sunny Meadow Estates.

Below 4, a flooded track at Mickelson Middle School.

Below 5, the flooded campground in Sexauer Park

Below 6, floodwaters surround Pioneer Cabin at Pioneer Park.