By Patrick Filbin
Gillette News Record
Via Wyoming News Exchange
GILLETTE — Damage wreaked on 19 homes in the Oriva Hills area on Friday wasn’t the result of just one tornado. The National Weather Service in Rapid City, South Dakota, says that a total of four tornadoes touched down near Gillette.
The afternoon storm completely destroyed seven homes and damaged 12 others.
The second confirmed tornado Friday was the strongest tornado ever recorded in Campbell County according to the National Weather Service.
The infamous 2005 tornado in Wright that killed two people and injured 13 others was a category EF2 tornado, which has winds that range from 113 to 130 mph.
The last tornado in Campbell County, which happened in August 2016 east of Gillette at Freedom Hills, was categorized as an EF1. It had an estimated wind peak of 98 mph and damaged 16 homes.
The tornado that did damage in Oriva Hills Friday registered at 136 mph.
Campbell County Emergency Management Coordinator David King said Monday morning that of those 12 damaged homes, four received major damage and eight had minor damage.
Melissa Smith with the National Weather Service in Rapid City, South Dakota, said that because information kept coming in over the weekend, her office had to change the tornado report several times.
It was first reported that one tornado touched down. After people who witnessed the storm kept sending in photos, videos and information, Smith and her team were able to piece together where and when certain tornadoes touched down and found out that not one, not two, but four tornadoes were spotted.
Smith said more information is coming in but she’s confident the total number of tornadoes will stay at four.
King said a total estimated damage cost will be difficult to figure and may not be available for some time. He said insurance companies usually file the estimated damage cost one to two years after a storm.
King confirmed Monday morning that there was an issue with the sirens in some parts of the county.
“No question about it,” he said, adding that he has been looking into the issue since the storm hit.
He heard from several people in the community through phone calls, in-person or comments on social media about the lack of a tornado siren before the storms hit.
King said the sirens should have sounded before and during the storm, but for some reason in certain parts of town, they didn’t.
“Our plan is always that those sirens should be working 24/7, 365,” King said. “It’s possible that it was a temporary issue and was one of those, ‘You-have-got-to-be-kidding-me-that-it-happened-now’ type of moments.”
King said he still isn’t sure if the programming that is meant to trigger the siren has permanent damage and failed completely or if it was a temporary glitch.
“I’m not looking for excuses, I’m looking for reasons,” he said. “This kind of stuff is the No. 1 priority of my job.”
The first tornado touched down about 11 miles west of Gillette and was on the ground for about four minutes.
The second tornado formed just minutes later and a little north of the first one.
It was on the ground for about 11 minutes over the Oriva Hills subdivision and “destroyed and damaged numerous homes and outbuildings, rolled vehicles and snapped electrical transmission poles and trees,” according to the National Weather Service.
Winds were clocked near 136 mph for the second tornado, which was classified as an EF3, the first ever recorded in Campbell County.
The second tornado also caused two minor injuries, the National Weather Service reported.
The tornado traveled west to east, making its first Campbell County landing in Oriva Hills.
A third tornado was categorized as a “gustnado” and was spotted 3 miles northeast of Gillette in the Warrior Hills subdivision.
That tornado was on the ground for one half-mile, had winds up to 90 mph and damaged a large shed, flipped a camper onto a vehicle, destroyed another camper and damaged several wooden fences.
The fourth tornado touched down over the west pit of the Eagle Butte coal mine at about 2 p.m. It had winds of up to 100 mph and was active for about 8 minutes before dissipating just east of the Dry Fork Station power plant.
It snapped and bent over seven power poles, damaged the control room building at the mine and damaged several vehicles at the Eagle Butte mine and Dry Fork Station. A dumpster also was thrown a few hundred yards.
Tim Velder with Powder River Energy said all but four electric meters that could be replaced and restored have been fixed as of Monday morning.
Velder said that a total of five electric meters in the Oriva Hills subdivision were not able to be restored because of severe damage.
“Those five were in pretty bad shape to the point where we were worried that if we restored those, they could have started a fire,” he said.
Powder River Energy had up to 16 linemen working Friday night and Saturday morning and eventually replaced 21 electrical poles.
Velder said the estimated cost for the damage is still being calculated.