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2 killed when North Dakota road is washed out

Posted at 7:46 AM, Jul 10, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-10 09:46:09-04

FORT YATES – Two people are dead after flash flooding in Sioux County late Monday night into Tuesday morning.

The flooding hit a culvert that carries Kenel Road over Joe Brush Creek in Southern Sioux County, about 2 miles from the North Dakota and South Dakota border on the Standing Rock Reservation.

The culvert was washed away in a powerful flash flooding that began Monday night and cost two people their lives.

The flooding left a 30 to 40-foot section of the road missing, resulting in a 60 to 70-foot drop to the creek below.

JR Red Tomahawk, HEO Supervisor with Standing Rock Roads Dept.

Family members said Trudy Peterson was on her way to work from Mobridge to a hospital in Fort Yates and most likely never saw the road was washed away because it was dark and raining.

Also lost in the flooding was a United States Postal worker from Mobridge who worked the Southern North Dakota route.

Two others survived the plunge and were rescued. A bus driver was flown from the scene to a Bismarck hospital and the driver of a pickup truck was taken by ambulance to a Mobrige hospital.

Kory Mclaughlin

Search crews worked from early morning through early evening to clear the wreckage and search for the missing, using every available resource including water rescue teams from both Burleigh and Morton counties. The highway patrol sent a plane in hope of finding those missing.

Sioux County Sheriff Frank Landeis said they have already hired a contractor to begin working on the repairs to Kenel Road, but they expect it to be closed for at least the next two months.

Jeff MedicineHorse

Anywhere between 5 and 7 inches of rain fell in that area causing the flash flooding.

Several times during the search crews had to scale back from the culvert because it kept collapsing. The sheriff said they are going to wait a few days to allow the creek to fall further, then they’ll go back and look for more potential victims.

KXNews