A confirmed tornado touched down in Sioux Falls Tuesday night and some business owners woke to find their buildings torn apart. Now the city will deal with the aftermath.
There’s extensive damage to a Sioux Falls business called Dreamers Outlet. Exposed insulation and wires, broken glass and mattresses are buried under heavy steel. Dan Darkow and Gaylene Stocco own the Sioux Falls store. Darkow says he first saw the damage in the middle of the night.
"At one O’clock I came down here and saw this gigantic hole which is now my front entrance to my store.”
Darkow says right now it looks like a total loss, but he’ll wait for an expert opinion from his insurance company.
“This can all be replaced. We’re just glad nobody died and nobody got hurt. You’re right on the money. It’s just a matter of this is all material stuff. It means nothing.”
Darkow didn’t wake his business partner.
“One of us still had to get some sleep and have coherent thoughts during the day. It might as well be her.”
The couple says they opened the business to offer affordable mattresses to people. Gaylene Stocco says she sees a new beginning.
“Both Dan and I, this is something we wanted, our own business so that we can help other people. I’ve always been one that says everything happens for a reason so maybe we’re just not meant to be in this spot and there’s a better location for us so that we can help more people. So now you get to hear the typical phase that most people say, we just rebuild. We clean up, we start all over. A new beginning.”
Officials will begin to survey the damage today. There are many roads closed from debris and downed power lines in Sioux Falls.