Neighbors helping neighbors is one of the reasons small town South Dakota is such a great place to live. The May 12 derecho swept through the eastern portion of the state and left an overwhelming amount of destruction in its path. Salem was one of the hardest hit communities that day.

It was the afternoon of Thursday, May 12th, and much of eastern South Dakota braced for an evening of rough and dangerous weather. It was the kind of weather that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Before long, social media feeds quickly filled with images of massive storm heads or “cloud walls” that looked as ominous as they sounded. We later learned from the National Weather Service (NWS) that the so-called “cloud wall” had a name: derecho. South Dakotans along the I-29 corridor will not soon forget it, either. Before long, the day’s cautions lead to warnings and storm sirens that bellowed across the town of Castlewood, South Dakota.

EF2 tornado in Castlewood