Community members step up to help during storm that dropped 7.9 inches of rain on Mitchell area
Jun. 22—MITCHELL — While the two-day rainstorm that many residents in the Mitchell area were recovering from Saturday morning wreaked havoc, community members came together to help their neighbors.
From kids cleaning debris off stressed storm drains to a local realtor kayaking through flooded areas to help a new homeowner deal with a flooded property, there were many examples of residents going great great lengths to offer help during the storm.
The city of Mitchell set up a sandbagging station along the Highway 37 Bypass that had residents working around the clock to keep a steady supply of sandbags on hand for those in need. The Dakota Wesleyan University football team, along with newly elected Mayor Jordan Hanson, joined the sandbagging efforts on Saturday morning.
Mitchell City Council member Tim Goldammer took notice of what he called a "united team effort" many residents formed to overcome the two-day storm that dropped over 7 inches of rain on Mitchell.
"One thing I have always noticed and loved about Mitchell is people come together when disaster hits. We saw it in the 2019 flood, and I saw many people step up and go out of their way to help their neighbors and others during this storm," Goldammer said.
According to the National Weather Service of Sioux Falls, from Thursday, June 20, to Saturday, June 22, Mitchell received 7.9 inches of rainfall, according to the NWS. Several residents in Mitchell had rain gauges measuring up to 10 inches.
Thursday's 4.87 inches of rain that doused Mitchell marked a single-day rainfall record. It broke the daily rainfall record for Mitchell set in 1984, when 2.90 inches of rain fell.
Stretching from Friday morning, June 21, into Saturday morning, June 22, an additional 2.64 inches of rain fell on already flooded Mitchell.
Although the storm produced about an inch less of rain compared to the 2019 storm that brought 8.1 inches of rain in a two-day span, Mayor Bob Everson, along with other city officials, felt the recent rainstorm was just as severe as the September 2019 event.
Mount Vernon, a small neighboring community, was hit hard during the severe rain event. The town's Main Street was submerged in standing water, as the manhole drains were being overloaded.
Despite having water seep into his own home, Mayor Weston Frank spent much of the night on Thursday assisting residents dealing with flooded basements.
Frank is no stranger to leading the Mount Vernon community through a major storm event. Having a united front from the community has always produced more successful recovery efforts, Frank said.
"My attitude is always we're all in this together, and the sooner everyone realizes that the sooner things will get a lot better," Frank said. "I was in about seven basements during the peak of the storm, and it was hard just keeping up with the response efforts. I saw water in areas I've never seen in my life."
