DICKINSON, N.D. - Despite a massive ominous-looking wall cloud swirling above Dickinson Monday evening and tornado warning sirens blaring, nothing touched down in Stark County, Emergency Manager Brent Pringle said Tuesday.
"If that thing would have opened up it wouldn't have been good. I think we dodged a bullet there," he said. "We had a lot of reports of funnel clouds, but a funnel cloud is just that, it's not a tornado, it's just the formation of what could be a tornado, but it doesn't touch the ground."
However, a tornado was reported two miles east of Fryburg in Billings County, he said.
"It was reported -- it was never confirmed," Pringle said.
Dickinson also got pounded by hail. Gale and Randy Berger, who live on Custer Street, shoveled hail out of their yard and chunks of ice were up to their ankles, Gale said. Randy even broke out the snowblower to get some of the stones away from their house, she added.
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"Our camper is pretty much done and our roof looks bad and our front deck looks pretty bad," Gale said. "I have nothing for flowers and nothing for a garden."
She said the hail didn't break windows, but left pockmarks all over their camper. The hail damaged trees, as well.
"It's just a mess," Gale said.
A tree was struck by lightning in Dickinson, too, Pringle said.
"It didn't bring any power down with it," Pringle said.
Nobody had reported damage from the storm, he said Tuesday.
"We just had a lot of reports of over-the-curb flooding," Pringle said. "There was a report of golf ball-size hail about three miles south of Gladstone, but again, no reports from anyone for damage."
Other cities in Stark County got rained on and hail was reported in the country south and east of Dickinson, he added.
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In what appears to be a prank, somebody called 911 Monday evening, reporting a tornado touched down on Enterprise Avenue causing damage, said Dickinson Police Department Sgt. Dustin Dassinger.
"We are investigating that because we are looking at charging that individual out," he said. "We have to send an officer to check out the area, of course, because we still have to take it seriously."
At least four burglar alarms went off at businesses due to the storm, Dassinger said.
North Dakota State University Stark-Billings Extension agent Kurt Froelich said he saw crop damage north and west of Dickinson.
Slope County Sheriff Pat Lorge said though the county was under tornado warnings, he had no reports of damage. Adams County had no reports of damage, besides a few haybales struck by lightning, Emergency Manager Libby Gravning said. Hettinger County Emergency Manager Ilene Hardmeyer also had no damage reports.
Dunn County Emergency Manager Denise Brew said though there were watches issued and, "It put the fear of everything into me but I don't think anything happened," she said, adding there was light rain and "It wasn't enough to wet down a windshield."
