Storm producing 60 mph winds destroys homes in Oglala - KOTA Territory News

Storm producing 60 mph winds destroys homes in Oglala

Residents of Oglala are thankful no one was seriously injured or killed during Saturday night's storms, but several families are without homes.

A day later, questions surfaced about the weather system that produced such serious damage.

"We seen it coming from Nebraska and thought it was just a rain cloud coming," said Maka Moves Camp.
 
The clouds brought with them enough wind to destroy Moves Camp's home, as well as his mother's on the same lot.
 
"It was just like someone just poof, just blew us away," he said.
 
There were 10 people inside the mobile home at the time, the youngest just 5 years old.
 
"Bottom line is we're alive," Moves Camp said. "These are material things ... We can always replace them."

A fenced-in porch and a few cinder blocks are all that survived of both mobile homes.
 
That level of damage, along with the localized nature of it, has some wondering if a tornado, and not just high winds, blew through the area.

The National Weather Service reported gusts up to 60 miles per hour, but said there wasn't any rotation on the radar.
 
"I figured if there was damage, I wanted to document it," said Peter Hill, a Red Cloud School teacher who lives on the Reservation.

He was out with his camera Sunday morning surveying the extensive damage.

He said it looks like the winds followed a path through a few homes and knocked down telephone poles on one side of the street, but not the other.
 
"I've lived out in these parts and seen a lot of storms," Hill said, "and this is the worst damage I've ever seen from a storm."
 
Some displaced homeowners are staying with friends and family, while others like Moves Camp are being put up at the Prairie Wind Casino while they figure out how to dig out and start over.
 
"The past ten years of our lives, gone in a second," Moves Camp said, adding, "It didn't break our spirits. It just broke our home. And we'll be here again."

Several people were sent to the Pine Ridge Indian Health Services Hospital for monitoring, but the extent of their injuries was still unknown Sunday night.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe will work with the Red Cross to clean up.