Mayor: Many Will Leave Delmont Due to Tornado

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Many residents of tornado-ravaged Delmont, S.D., don’t plan to come back, and the community is looking for ways to pull through.

About 200 people live in the town, and “it looks like maybe half will return,” Mayor Mae Gunnare told KELO-TV.

“So it’s sad. We’re going to have to take some serious looks at Delmont,” she said. “How do we recover from this, losing part of our utility taxes and property tax?”

The May 10 tornado damaged or destroyed 84 structures in and around Delmont and injured nine people. The National Weather Service rated the twister an EF-2, with a peak wind speed of 130 mph.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency last week denied a state request for federal aid for people and private businesses in Delmont because the damage didn’t meet the necessary threshold.

There might still be federal resources available, such as low-interest disaster loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., told the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan newspaper.

Federal assistance also might be available for damaged public infrastructure, as was the case in Wessington Springs after that town was devastated by a tornado last year. The tornado that hit Delmont destroyed its public fire hall, with fire trucks and an ambulance inside.

“Wessington Springs couldn’t get individual assistance, but it could get $3.5 million in public assistance to cover damage to the public infrastructure,” Thune said.