Pennington County flood warning system remains crucial

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - The flood warning system was a direct result of the 1972 flood and has been helping the Pennington County Emergency Management keep track of potential flash floods heading to a populated area.

The system is currently run by three parties Pennington County Emergency Management the National Weather Service and the US Geological Survey.

”The National Weather Service processes a lot of that data and puts that data up in real-time on their website,” said Pennington County Emergency Management director Dustin Willett. “So, emergency management ingests that data and plans a local response to the flood warning and provides a public alert and warning.”

County Emergency Management added the system is a crucial part of the Rapid City area in order to help keep something like the flood of ‘72 from occurring again.