Photo by Deb Gau Severe weather on Wednesday destroyed a garage outside Brad and Audrey Besse’s home near Lyon County Road 20. A National Weather Service meteorologist confirmed that one or two small tornadoes touched down in an area along the county road. No injuries were reported.

LYON COUNTY — The results of a severe storm system that passed through the area on Wednesday afternoon were a mixed bag — some spots of Lyon County got heavy rain, others nothing at all. And residents along one short stretch of Lyon County Road 20 were hit with damaging straightline winds and one or two small tornadoes.

Todd Heitkamp, of the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls, confirmed that one or two “very brief” tornadoes touched down south of Marshall on Wednesday afternoon. Additionally, he estimated that straightline winds at speeds of 80 to 100 miles per hour struck the same area.

Heitkamp said the Lyon County tornado was an EF-0, the least severe tornado rating.

Wednesday’s storm damaged farm buildings, houses and trees in a path along County Road 20, from just west of County Road 7 to County Road 67 in the east. Heitkamp and Lyon County Emergency Manager Tammy VanOverbeke said it was likely that straightline winds caused most of the damage. There were no injuries reported, VanOverbeke said.

Local residents affected by the storm were busy trying to clean up on Thursday. Brad Besse said he and his wife returned home from work Wednesday to find the roof and walls torn off their garage and storage building. The garage roof was now lying in the grove behind the garage. The Besses also lost some trees, and had some damage to their house, like broken windows.

VanOverbeke said it appeared the tornado first touched down in a field west of the Besse home.

“It started in the corner of the next section west of them,” she said.

At the other end of the storm’s path, family and neighbors were helping clean up at the Greg and Mary Deutz farm. The storm had destroyed a garage and crumpled a grain bin, scattering big pieces of debris across the field to the east.

Members of the Deutz family were at home Wednesday afternoon when the storm came through. It all happened suddenly, they said.

“I saw a whole lot of green sky” out the window, and trees bending low, said James Deutz. Adrid Deutz and Hope Deutz said there were banging noises outside the house as the storm hit. The Deutz family had just enough time to take shelter in the basement before the storm was over.

“It didn’t last very long,” Adrid Deutz said.

Heitkamp said wind damage from Wednesday’s severe storms was reported in Lincoln County as well, but Lyon County had the only reported tornadoes.

“It seems like it was really isolated,” VanOverbeke said of storm damage reported in Lyon County. But given how quickly and severely those isolated spots were hit, she said, it served as a reminder to take severe weather warnings seriously, and take shelter.