People in KELOLAND remember the blizzard of 1975

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — It’s remembered as one of the worst winter storms to hit KELOLAND: the deadly blizzard of 1975.

According to the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls, the storm unleashed 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts and dangerous windchill.

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Friday marks 50 years since the storm hit KELOLAND.

KELOLAND News caught up with Jan Campbell at Active Generations in Sioux Falls.

The member and volunteer remembers the storm of ’75 well.

That’s because the Sioux Falls woman was pregnant and worried she might go into labor soon.

Meanwhile, her husband was stranded at work.

“I had another child at home. My oldest was six, and I thought what am I going to do? If I go into labor, she’s not going to know what to do. She can’t help me,” Campbell said.

Campbell’s husband did make it home a few days later.

“Through the grace of God a snowmobile brought him home,” Campbell said.

The family welcomed their new baby on January 28th, 1975.

The Megards also shared stories of the storm with KELOLAND News before sitting down to play bridge Friday.

The husband and wife lived on a farm near Garretson at the time and had livestock to tend to.

“We had to shovel out the cattle bunks, so they could eat, and the hog feeders had to be scooped out,” Clarice Megard said.

“You’re really nervous that your pigs aren’t suffocating because the snow drifted in around them, and as far as the cattle you had to get the feed bunks clear of snow so you could put feed into them,” Roger Megard said.

Roger Megard says they didn’t lose any livestock in the storm, but many farmers did.