Strong KOTA Territory winds cause damage - KOTA Territory News

Strong KOTA Territory winds cause damage

Somehow blustery just doesn't do it justice. "It is relentless," said California tourist Mary Wright.

"Very, very windy, I was about tempted to throw some rocks in my pockets to keep my feet to the ground," said Black Hills Power Senior Program Manager Mutch Usera.

The wind can be a nuisance for a lot of people. "We could hardly sleep last night because it just started at bed time and blew all night long," said Wright.

"Our table tops, our glass, one flipped over and broke the other one so we had a bunch of broken glass out there that wasn't fun," said Tally's Silver Spoon Employee James Borden.

But sometimes it can also be a hazard too. Reports of multiple semi trucks, campers, and trailers being blown over have come in. "Mother nature can definitely make it challengeable for us," said Usera.

Several fires started as well, and in these strong winds, fires can be hard to put out. The Fork Fire west of Custer burned 100 acres by 2:00 PM Thursday and some local homeowners in the area were evacuated. The Glen Erin Fire burned 10- 30 acres by 2:00 PM on Thursday and around 20 residents were on evacuation notice.

Down power lines can also be a problem. "It can be very dangerous; do not assume if a power line is down that the power line is not energized," said Usera. "There's a good chance it still can be energized."

Usera says the wind cause power outages all day Thursday, affecting less than 5,000 customers. "When a power line is down obviously it can impact one customer, it can impact thousands of customers depending on the size of the power line and where it's going," said Usera.

But despite all the problems the high winds are causing, people seem to continue to find the silver lining. "I'm really happy to have my hood," said Wright with a big smile.

"Its South Dakota right, that's what everyone's saying and what Saturday it's going to be 75 so you know beautiful can't complain," said Borden.

The South Dakota Department of Transportation released an advisory to motorists, warning them that strong winds are making travel difficult. Some roads like the needles highway are closed until Friday. Areas with curvy roads and lots of Mountain Pine Beetle hit trees were their main concern.

Power outages caused Douglas schools to close early on Thursday as well.