Rose Hill: One Year Later

It was year ago on July 30th, 2010, when a torrent of heavy rain pushed the earthen dam at the Rose Hill Recreation Area in Southeastern Hand County to it’s limit. In the early morning hours of that Friday, rainfall that would total 11 inches in the area caused the dam to breech and send thousands of gallons of water rushing into Hand, Beadle, Jerauld and Sanborn Counties. South Dakota Game Fish and Parks Regional Supervisor Cliff Stone says a year later work is on going to return Rose Hill to normal…

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Stone is hopeful that construction can start this fall…

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Federal Emergency Management Agency money is covering up to 75-percent of the estimated one-million dollar plus cost to put Rose Hill back together. Stone says the recreation area is far from user-friendly, even without water…

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Stone says the new berm should be able to withstand another severe rain event…

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Two Huron men who were camping at Rose HIll, were injured when the dam breeched. The rescue of the men, who where found hanging on a tree, took four to five hours.

  • A report on the flooding for that storm from the National Weather Service is available for review at this link:  

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/fsd/pdf/Jerauld_Co_report_final.pdf