SPENCER, S.D. (AP) - A small southeastern community in South Dakota is still recovering two decades after one of the most destructive tornados in the state’s history ripped through the city.
The May 30, 1998 tornado that killed six people in Spencer was the second-deadliest in the state.
Betty Schoon took cover from the storm’s estimated 225 mph (362 kph) winds with her husband in her mother’s basement, the Daily Republic reported . She said her family was lucky to survive after the tornado collapsed the furnace and the steps out of the basement.
Five churches and the town’s water tower were completely destroyed, Schoon said. The only bank was also leveled.
Spencer had a population of about 315 people at the time. Only about 40 homes on the northern edge of town were spared from the destruction.
The town’s population fell by half a year after the tornado. Spencer now has 155 residents.
Resident Chuck Feiner said he knew many residents wouldn’t return.
“I said after it happened that (the town) was not going to be anything but a bedroom community,” he said.
Feiner said many of the older residents needed to be closer to health care facilities in larger cities.
Twenty years later, open spaces of green grass remain scattered across Spencer where families once lived before their homes were torn down. But the town lives on with a new water tower, bank and one of the five churches.
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Information from: The Daily Republic, http://www.mitchellrepublic.com
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