Burke, South Dakota Picking Up The Pieces After Destructive Tornado

Mike Karbo’s neighbor woke him up about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, asking for his help rescuing two people from a collapsed garage.

But Karbo, information director for the town of Burke, South Dakota, said that was only the beginning of the damage from a tornado that rolled in overnight.

Karbo said the storm ripped through the center of town, splitting it in half.

When the sun rose on Burke on Wednesday, its 600 or so residents discovered that the civic center and the building that contains the high school and middle school were destroyed, as were some homes in the county.