New Underwood residents left cleaning up pieces after large hail sweeps through area

NEW UNDERWOOD, S.D. — On Thursday night, golf-ball to tennis-ball size hail swept through areas of the Black Hills, especially through New Underwood.

“We noticed my husband coming down the driveway really fast on his Harley, so I thought ‘well let’s open the garage for dad before we go’,” said Jenny Gunter a resident of New Underwood. “Got him in the garage, he and I headed down to the shop and that’s when the hail started.”

The hail left holes in homes, smashed car windows along Interstate 90 and even killed three chickens and a kitten that belonged to Richie and Jenny Gunter.

“When we came back down, that’s when we saw all the damage to the vehicle, the house, we just got our siding finished yesterday, don’t know what’s going to happen with that,” Jenny said. “It’s was quite the event.”

The event prompting an important reminder being relayed by the South Dakota Department of Transportation.

If you do find yourself in a major storm event, there’s things you can and should do.

According to the South Dakota Highway Patrol, the best thing to do in a major storm event is slow down, reduce your speed and pull to the side of the road. If need be, find the nearest exit so that you can find shelter, but do not stop under any bridge underpasses.

The National Weather Service in Rapid City relaying that due to the nature of Thursday’s storm, it was nearly impossible to avoid to storm but that it’s important to call and keep up to date with the latest weather news.

“Social media, you can, any sort of radar app you can get, like radar scope on your phone,” said Aaron Dye, a Meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “You can even call the office, like we’re there 24/7, we’ve always got somebody especially in severe weather events that will answer the phone.”

Remember to stay up to date with the latest weather news with the NewsCenter1 Weather App, that keep you up to date and informed in potentially dangerous situations.