WAGNER, S.D. (KELO.com) — The Yankton Sioux Tribe says a blocked culvert is aggravating flooding on the reservation near Fort Randall Dam.
“Our community is literally drowning due to State negligence and indifference to the health and well-being of our people,” the tribal government says in a release. “Instead, the Governor has suggested that displaced Tribal residents use surplus Army Tents for temporary housing while scarce resources are spent elevating Highway 18/50.”
The area has been flooding since early spring.
The tribe says the flooding at Lake Andes is caused by the negligence of the State Game, Fish and Parks to maintain a key culvert that replaced the natural waterway from Lake Andes into the Missouri. They say both the state and the tribe agree that the culvert is blocked.
“Governor Noem, as a Member of Congress, understood the limited resources available to our Tribe,” Chairman Robert Flying Hawk said. “I don’t want to believe that the Governor, knowing there is no replacement housing funds, would choose to continue to allow her constituents to drown while commerce is resumed. I hope she will address our people immediately with a solution,”
KELO.com News has asked the Governor’s Office for a response to the tribe’s charges.
Above is drone footage from the tribe of the flooding.
Below is the full news release from the tribe.
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Wagner, S.D., August 12, 2019: The Inhanktonwan Nation has been waiting six months for the State to stop the flooding at Lake Andes and fix the blocked culvert.
Our community is literally drowning due to State negligence and indifference to the health and well-being of our people. Instead, the Governor has suggested that displaced Tribal residents use surplus Army Tents for temporary housing while scarce resources are spent elevating Highway 18/50. This temporary “fix” would effectively change the road grade to a level that would cut off our connecting roads, further disconnecting the community from necessary emergency services, access to basic living necessities, jobs, and schools.
“Why not use those funds to fix the culvert that has worked for over 80 years and provide a permanent solution for both our community and the State?” stated Chairman Robert Flying Hawk. In March of 2019, like areas throughout the Midwest, the Thanktonwan Nation was suddenly broadsided by a bomb cyclone that flooded our rural communities and strained our limited infrastructure, but unlike our sister Tribes along the Missouri our flooding did not recede. Instead it increased with each subsequent storm.
As a result, for the past six months more than 60 Thanktonwan families have been impacted by the expanding Lake Andes. Their access to emergency and basic life services is now extremely limited and their homes are slowly becoming uninhabitable. This has developed into slow motion tragedy for our people. One that was avoidable.
The flooding at Lake Andes is caused by the negligence of the State Game, Fish and Parks to maintain a key culvert that replaced the natural waterway from Lake Andes into the Missouri. The consensus of the State and the Tribe is that the culvert is blocked. The Tribe has requested from the state a study showing that the culvert should not be replaced, along with a proposal for a long-term solution.
The State has not responded.
“Governor Noem, as a Member of Congress, understood the limited resources available to our Tribe. Her office was an advocate to increase critically needed housing and improve health care. She was our Congresswoman! I don’t want to believe that the Governor, knowing there is no replacement housing funds, would choose to continue to allow her constituents to drown while commerce is resumed. I hope she will address our people immediately with a solution,” Flying Hawk continued.
About the Yankton Sioux Tribe: Known as the Thanktonwan Dakota Oyate, the Yankton Sioux Tribe is located in southeastern South Dakota in Charles Mix County along the Missouri River bottom bordering the state of Nebraska.
