Shelter in the Storm

Living in the Midwest, intense storms are always expected, but this summer, many South Dakotans witnessed a storm that was far more intense than anything they’d seen before.

On Thursday, May 12, I was attending a conference in Fort Pierre, South Dakota, alongside other NorthWestern Energy employees.

As the conference wrapped up, I told Angie Christensen, NorthWestern Energy Community Relations Specialist, about the upcoming weather, as I knew she was going to Brookings and then Madison later that day.

The conference ended early Thursday afternoon, and I traveled three hours back to Sioux Falls.

I arrived home around 4 p.m. and called my mother, Angela Rans, a fellow NorthWestern Energy employee in Huron, and asked if she’d been monitoring the weather forecast.

At the time, she didn’t know about the forecast at all. She left work at 5 p.m., and everything changed within minutes of her drive home. She witnessed the skies turn entirely dark, trees toppled by wind and blocking the roads.

After my mom called me back and I realized how bad the storm impacted Huron, I knew it was headed east toward Brookings, where Angie was.

I couldn’t shake this instinct to check on Angie again. I had texted her several times earlier to remind her to monitor the weather.

4:12 p.m., I texted Angie, “Did you make it home okay?”

4:16 p.m., Angie replied, “I made it to Brookings and headed towards Madison now. Be safe, sweetie!”

Although I felt some form of reassurance knowing she was safe at that moment, I still couldn’t stop this gut feeling I had. Truthfully, after I read that text, I felt worse. Almost like my intuition had doubled in intensity.

All I could think about was that I needed to ensure Angie was safe. So, amid preparing for the storm to hit Sioux Falls, I called Angie.

I was anxiously pacing back and forth, watching the live weather radar while the phone was ringing, waiting for Angie to pick up.

Seconds felt like minutes. Given the adrenaline of the situation, I can’t recall the specifics of what was said during that phone call. I remember telling Angie to stay in Brookings, take shelter immediately and please let me know once you’re safe.

Hearing Angie’s voice eased some of my anxiety, but this feeling I had was still so intense. To help calm down, I reminded myself that I did everything possible. I made the right choice by calling her and I’m probably just feeling nervous because of the storm in general.

4:29 p.m.: “I went to my folks because I saw the wall, and we rescued a kid on a bike.” Angie said.

4:34 p.m.: “The shed, grill, and a huge tree in my parents’ yard just blew away ... Thank you soooo much for the warning!!” Angie said.

Still, to this day, I have no words for how it felt to read, “We rescued a kid on a bike.”

Chills instantly radiated through my body. It felt as if someone had physically lifted a weight off my chest.

Tate, 11, was at the baseball fields about a mile away from home when the storm hit. When the wind picked up, he got on his bike to head home, and immediately the blowing dirt irritated his eyes.

Eleven-year-old Tate, his mom Lisa, and NorthWestern Energy Community Relations Specialist Angie Christensen pose with the bike Tate was riding during the May 12 storm.

“I couldn’t even open my eyes or see anything while pedaling,” he said. “It was still light out, but there was dust everywhere. It felt like a bunch of little rocks hitting my face.”

Tate pedaled on, but the wind physically blew him and his bike.

“I just wanted to get inside somewhere,” he said. “I knew I couldn’t get to my house.”

Instead, Tate tried to take shelter in a shed that happened to be in Angie’s parents’ yard.

On his way to the shed, the wind knocked Tate and his bike over in the yard.

“When I got up after falling on the ground, I started to run to the shed, but then I saw Angie in the window,” Tate said.

Tate saw the lights inside the home right before they went out. At that exact moment, Tate found Angie, or maybe Angie found Tate.

“When I walked into the house, I told my parents to look out the window,” Angie said. “That’s when I found Tate on the other side. If I hadn’t walked in at that moment and said that, we wouldn’t have seen him.”

Angie pointed to the garage, and Tate ran to the side door and Angie let him in.

Tate’s mom, Lisa, was home when the storm hit.

“When I was in the driveway and realized he wasn’t with us, I looked down the block and saw all this debris flying. Like, big pieces of debris,” Lisa said. “All I could think about was that he was trying to ride his bike, and I was so worried he would get hit by these huge pieces of debris.”

“I started to back out of the driveway, and at that point, it was dark and the sirens were going. I thought we were in a tornado,” Lisa said.

Right as she began to back out, Tate called her and said, “Mom, I am OK.”

Lisa ran back inside and took shelter in the basement, but all she could think about was how this happened — how did he get to this house?

“He had angels looking out for him,” she said.

The dugout at the baseball field was destroyed, and there would’ve been no shelter for Tate.