(KORN, Mitchell) Twenty years ago today a powerful F-4 tornado tore through Spencer, SD, leaving six people dead and most of the town a shambles.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Todd Heitkamp remembers watching the storm take shape on radar.
National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Gillispie was working the day shift and decided to stay on watching the radar for severe weather. He says the approaching storm indicated classic signs of being tornadic including rotation as it closed in on Spencer.
Heitkamp and fellow meteorologist Greg Harmon traveled to the devastated community the next day to assess the damage.
Gillispie says looking back, when he learned there were fatalities it changed his state of mind.
First responders from surrounding communities and state agencies quickly arrived to help. In the days that followed thousands of volunteers stepped forward to help residents recover, relocate and in many cases rebuild.
The deadly tornado cut power to the town disabling the outdoor warning siren giving residents little notice.
In the weeks that followed then Senator Tim Johnson led an effort to improve severe weather coverage across the state by adding several NOAA weather radio stations.
Photo from KELOland TV.
