One year ago on this night, three tornadoes and storms rocked Sioux Falls and the Sioux Empire. This night felt unreal. It's something that you never thought would actually happen.  Well, at least I never thought it could happen.

By the time I went to bed that evening on September 10th, thunderstorms were surrounding the Sioux Empire.  Suddenly I woke up a little after 11:00 PM.  My phone started buzzing with the first alert.  In my mind, I thought this storm warning would blow over like they usually do.  Then I received the flash flood warning close to 11:30 PM.  Not even a second after that warning, my power went out.  I looked outside my window, and I could not believe what was happening.  I couldn't see anything, and it looked like a hurricane on 41st Street.  Without giving it a second thought, I grabbed a few items and made my way to the basement.

Here's a little comic relief: I was calling my sister and mom to let them know what was happening.  But the crazy thing is that they didn't believe me.  My mom just thought I was overreacting.  I even told her that I wouldn't be calling at that time of night if it wasn't an emergency.  She pulled up the Sioux Falls radar and immediately started to walk me through the storm.  Knowing that my mom was there helped me relax because I was scared.  I've never experienced a storm of this magnitude on my own, so it was comforting to have her support even from over 500 miles away.

The day after the storms was just devastating.  I could not believe all the trees and debris. The bright side was the city was coming together to make sure Sioux Falls is back on track.

Now, most of the businesses at Plaza 41 are back up and running while the AutoZone Parts' brand new building is welcoming its new and returning customers.

It's amazing what can happen in a year and these Sioux Falls tornadoes prove just that.

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