Flood — Codington, South Dakota

2025-07-28 · near Rauville, Codington, South Dakota

Event narrative

Willow Creek near Watertown would go into flood due to heavy rain from persistent thunderstorms. The creek would crest July 28th during the mid-morning hours, dropping below flood during the afternoon of the same day. A crest of 10.64 feet was observed, 0.64 feet above flood stage.

Wider weather episode

An afternoon thunderstorm developed near the town of Henry and very quickly spun up a violent tornado. This tornado would cause significant damage to a farmstead before dissipating. The storm would go on to produce large hail, up to the size of baseballs near Lake Kampeska, with numerous additional reports of golf-ball sized hail, in and around the city of Watertown. The Watertown Automated Surface Observing System recording a peak wind gust of 71 mph.

Heavy rainfall from persistent re-development of storms over the area into the late evening hours would go on to produce flooding in the Big Sioux basin. The COOP observers in Castlewood, Rauville and Watertown would pick up 5.61, 3.68 and 2.06 inches respectively.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.9400, -97.0300)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1282517. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.