The following is a report from The N’West Iowa REVIEW.
Mark Ten Kley wasn’t short on business on Thursday, June 6.
At 1 p.m. he was in his office with a customer while three more were waiting for him.
The day may have been hectic, but Ten Kley appreciated it, especially since his Southwest Wholesale RV lot was almost wiped out by a tornado about a week earlier.
“I still can’t believe the severity of the damage,” Ten Kley said. “There are new challenges every day. I still can’t believe that it all happened within 20 seconds. We have weathered storms before, but this was on a whole new level.”
A low-level tornado touched down on the east side of Sheldon about 4:15 p.m. Friday, May 31, and caused major damage to multiple recreation vehicles and two buildings on Southwest Wholesale’s lot at 90 N. Runger Ave. west of the exchange of the Highway 60 expressway and Highway 18.
Ten Kley received some help clearing the debris from his lot shortly after the tornado passed, and the Southwest Wholesale RV was open again Monday despite damage to the main building.
“It wasn’t a normal Monday, but we did have customers pick up their new unit that fortunately we had inside and was not damaged,” Ten Kley said. “We had a couple of RVs get picked up this week, and it was nice to get back to business as usual. I can’t express enough all thanks to God for bringing us all through this unharmed and secondly for the outpouring of help, support and positive words from everyone is humbling.”
The tornado touched down near the Crossroads Pavilion Event Center, according to the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
There was no tornado watch or warning issued for Sheldon on Friday afternoon, and the tornado formed quickly enough that the emergency sirens did not sound.
The tornado traveled northwest along 34th Avenue, missing apartments and businesses before crossing Highway 18 and entering the Southwest Wholesale RV lot where most of the tornado’s damage was caused. It flipped and tossed multiple RVs around the lot and even onto other RVs.
Then it caused damage to the roof of two buildings on the lot, including the main building, which Ten Kley, an employee and a customer were still in.
“Until the tornado happened, it was business as usual,” Ten Kley said. “I just thought it was raining very hard. We didn’t realize it until we heard the ‘train sound’ that it was more than rain. We knew it was bad, but I really didn’t grasp the totality of it all until I went outside in the pouring rain and saw the damage everywhere.”
None of the three received any injuries.
“God was watching over us and protected us,” Ten Kley said.
About 80% of the inventory was severely damaged, according to Ten Kley. New units range in price from the smaller entry-level units at $20,000 to the higher-end, bigger units that cost more than $100,000.
“Our inventory fluctuates throughout the year and fortunately our inventory was down due to units being picked up prior to the Memorial Day holiday,” Mark said.
The main building lost its wash bay on the north side and half of the structure’s roof was torn off, which allowed water to pour into the shop area. But the offices and parts area stayed “fairly” unharmed, Ten Kley said.
With rain pouring down and Ten Kley surveying the damage, people started to show up to help clean up the damage.
“Before I knew it, people were there to help out. Friends, family and other community members joined in,” he said. “I don’t think I realized how many people were there in the rain to help out. Several friends offered heavy equipment, and it seemed like minutes, and they were on scene with loaders, skid loaders and an excavator. I really want to thank those people. Our first goal was to make it safe, and we had debris everywhere. All the hands and equipment helped accomplish this.”
Read the full story by Justin Rust at The N’West Iowa REVIEW here.
