South Dakota

TenHaken issues emergency declaration as flood forces untreated wastewater into Big Sioux River

Published

12 months ago

June 22, 2024

TenHaken issues emergency declaration as flood forces untreated wastewater into Big Sioux River

In the wake of a deluge, the next 48 hours will be crucial for not only Sioux Falls, but also the health of the Big Sioux River.

Mayor Paul TenHaken signed an executive order to issue an emergency declaration Saturday after days of persistent precipitation inundated the city, along with southeastern South Dakota as a whole, with significant amounts of rainfall.

This will allow the city to skip the bid process to hire contractors and procure equipment to more quickly respond to the flood situation.

In a 7 a.m. virtual press conference Saturday hosted by Gov. Kristi Noem, TenHaken told reporters the city’s retention ponds, used specifically in flood events, were all at capacity.

As the city’s wastewater system undergoes the “most strain the system has ever had,” as TenHaken described during the presser, the mayor urged residents to limit water usage as the city’s wastewater system undergoes the

“We have thousands of people depending on this system,” TenHaken said. “We need people to limit their wastewater use right now, and that means limiting doing loads of laundry. If you can avoid a shower today, that will be great. If you can avoid anything that puts capacity or strain on the system, it will be an incredible benefit to what we’re seeing right now.”

Hours later, Marc Cotter, the city’s director of public works, elaborated on the capacity issues during a 10:30 a.m. press conference held at the city’s Public Safety Campus. He told reporters the Sioux Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant ran out of storage for excess wastewater in the system.

Gov. Noem, state officials say eastern SD river levels expected to peak Monday and Tuesday

As a result, plant operators were forced to discharge untreated wastewater into the Big Sioux River at 7:15 a.m. Saturday.

This decision was a “last resort,” Cotter emphasized. The wastewater plant’s inflow was measured at about 45 million gallons per day Saturday, Cotter said, while about 34 million gallons per day were diverted into storage basins.

Collectively, that’s about four times the normal amount of water the plant typically sees, the publics work director estimated.

A “significant amount” of the excess water is comprised of rainwater and groundwater, Cotter explained.

“The state also knows that, so when we test the river, upstream and downstream, we expect to see, you know, a significant amount of dilution that occurs with that,” Cotter said. “But it is always our last resort. We’ll only do it for the minimum amount of time that’s required until the system catches up.”

Cotter said the last time the city had to discharge raw wastewater was in 2010. He called it a “very uncommon” event.

There’s a safety rationale behind the decision, since releasing the excess water quickly was meant to protect property and keep wastewater out of neighborhoods, Cotter explained.

“The large storage systems that we’ve built for days like this, you know, those have also been great assets for us up until this point, and they’ve worked really good for this event, but just the peak of this just wasn’t enough,” Cotter said.

Sioux Falls city parks, Wild Water West close due to ‘significant flooding’

Asked how officials will respond if the city’s flood contingencies continue to stay at or surpass capacity, the public works head told the Argus Leader they’re reliant on a current National Weather Service that’s favoring sunshine and drier weather later Saturday through early next week.

In any event, they’ll “adapt accordingly,” Cotter said.

“If things were to change, our systems are, we’ve been managing this on an hour by hour basis …,” he said. “But I think we all are looking forward to the sun coming out and starting to dry this place out.”

The flooding has also given rise to rescue events, City Emergency Management Director Regan Smith told reporters.

Since Friday morning, Smith said there have been nine water rescues in Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County, all of which were successful.

In the same region, Smith said there have also been five calls for stranded motorists, 30 for vehicles stalled in water, 10 regarding water problems and 75 traffic accidents.

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South Dakota

Mitchell town hall to be held at Dakota Wesleyan Wednesday night

Published

6 hours ago

June 10, 2025

Press Room

Mitchell town hall to be held at Dakota Wesleyan Wednesday night

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Throughout April, South Dakota community leaders Nikki Gronli and Julian Beaudion hosted town halls across the state allowing people to raise the concerns they have with the Trump administration.

Now they are back by popular demand with the next one coming up Wednesday evening.

Gronli and Beaudion have previously held town halls in Rapid City, Aberdeen, Vermillion and Sioux Falls, and every one saw a massive crowd.

Now the tour heads to Mitchell.

The popularity of the town halls resulted in changes in venues and people having to stand at meetings as attendees.

Panelists Nikki Gronli and Julian Beaudion delivered the 40-page report to South Dakota’s congressional delegation but only received feedback from Representative Dusty Johnson.

But both Gronli and Beaudion share optimism in the participation in political discourse throughout the state.

“What we saw from the citizens who attended these town halls is that there is still a lot of fight left in them, a lot of fight left in us, folks had no problem talking through some of the concerns,” Beaudion, a US Senate candidate said.

In previous meetings, attendees addressed concerns they had regarding cuts to Medicaid, the Department of Education, and from DOGE, as well as the effects of tariffs.

Now they are prioritizing town halls being more focused on one issue, this starts Wednesday in Mitchell at Dakota Wesleyan University.

“There’s a great farm community, so we decided we would do this one focused as opposed to the last town halls which we allowed people to cover whatever topic they wanted to, we thought we would switch it up and see what the response is like,” Gronli said.

Gronli expects a lot of questions as to what the next farm bill will look like and when it will be passed, the current one has been extended twice and passed in 2018.

She will have the help of another former USDA staffer to answer questions throughout the night.

“I also expect having Marcia Bunger there on stage as the former risk management lead that there will be conversations about crop insurance, the importance to our ag producers and what policies are being made around crop insurance,” Gronli said.

Dates haven’t been announced but town halls are planned for Brookings and Rapid City so far.

Dakota News Now reached out for comment to Senators Thune and Rounds and Representative Johnson, but we did not get a response in time for publication.

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South Dakota

SD Lottery Powerball, Lucky For Life winning numbers for June 9, 2025

Published

1 day ago

June 10, 2025

Press Room

The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at June 9, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from June 9 drawing

30-33-40-43-52, Powerball: 25, Power Play: 4

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from June 9 drawing

03-07-17-29-46, Lucky Ball: 15

Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lotto America numbers from June 9 drawing

06-14-35-44-49, Star Ball: 05, ASB: 02

Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.

When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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South Dakota

Komet Caisen Thome Commits to South Dakota

Published

2 days ago

June 9, 2025

Press Room

Komet Caisen Thome Commits to South Dakota

The major local, regional and national news events, sports, weather conditions and traffic are examined and reported by the ABC 6 News Team.

(ABC 6 News) — After a strong senior campaign with the Kasson-Mantorville Komets, Caisen Thome will continue to play football at the Division I level, joining the University of South Dakota.

Thome originally signed with Iowa Western, but switched to follow in his father’s footsteps as a coyote. Caisen was featured as a Prep Athelte of the Week this past football season, you can watch his story here.

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