On May 30, 1998 at 8:44 p.m. an F4 tornado hit the small community of Spencer, South Dakota killing 6 people and injuring 157 others.

Almost all of the houses except a handful were destroyed, many leveled completely and all of the businesses were destroyed. The town of Spencer is about 10 miles from me and is served by my newspaper The Salem Special. Spencer is also consolidated with Salem in schooling.

I have taken these pictures on the day after the tornado and I'm posting them here for friends and family to see. There are some pictures of victims but none of the rescue effort. Page 3 shows the human side of the disaster.

In this photo you see the destruction of the tornado. The debris in the foreground is all the remains of several houses. The tornado had no trouble leveling houses.

This is a picture of the water tower. This shot has been seen around the nation and even in Europe. The crumbled water tower has become the symbol of the destruction. Notice how the car was thrown into the tower's legs

Witnesses say this truck was airborne during the tornado and the fact that it's wedged between two trees that it doesn't fit between is evidence that it came down from the sky.

A fatality occured at this house as one of it's occupants was sucked from the house. The house is sitting in it's basement. It was blown off it's foundation.

BEV, IRENE, ELIZABETH, GLORIA, MILDRED and RON

This page is in memory of you.

CLICK TO SEE MORE PICTURES

If you have comments you can send them to me via email or icq (1341642).

MANY THANKS FOR THE HELP I'M GETTING WITH THIS PAGE!!

Email me at tschwans@rapidnet.com.

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