Chasers Stuck in the mud in SD

[Robert Dewey]

That's not true, Jay... Actually, if it's private property, the farmer can do whatever he pleases.

I'm pretty sure you can't plow over a road and claim it to be "private property," which is the scenario Jay was talking about.

 

[Elaine Spencer]

Would you be upset if you walked out of your house and found 20 strange cars parked on your back yard?

I suppose I would be... and if the 20 strange cars in question were there because of a huge tornado that had just barely missed my house, and if they had torn up a freshly planted lawn or garden in the process (albeit completely by accident), I suppose I might be even more upset than usual.

 

[Rob Herman]

This county map (http://www.sddot.com/pe/data/docs/countymapspdf/edms.pdf) shows the road ending at the NW Corner of the section (3) they were in. There is also a "RESTRICTION OF LIABILITY:..." notice if you go through SD's Internet site to get to these maps.

 

[Chris Foltz]

I'm pretty sure you can't plow over a road and claim it to be "private property," which is the scenario Jay was talking about.

Problem is, we all know mapping programs such as DeLorme and Streets & Trips have inherent issues with showing roads that don't actually exist. The examples are too numerous to mention. I highly doubt the farmer actually plowed over a road as I'm sure the county would take action against him if he had.

The guys who got stuck obviously had no other choice for their safety than to drive into the field so I can't fault them for that. It's also not feasible to expect them to have paper maps as very few, if any, chasers rely on them any more. Technology has certainly aided many aspects of the storm chasing experience, yet it has also created a dependency on many other factors which are not always reliable (i.e. having current radar data).

If for some reason the farmer is wanting to pursue a legal course of action (which I would seriously doubt...), I hope those involved would contact their insurance company for assistance rather than trying to handle it themselves. Sure, no one wants to file a claim, but it's better than trying to defend a legal action on their own. JMHO...

 

[Rob Herman]

Problem is, we all know mapping programs such as DeLorme and Streets & Trips have inherent issues with showing roads that don't actually exist.

I've been "DeLorme'd" many times. My present version of DeLorme also shows this road going through.

 

[Logan Karsten]

For me, if I am going to take that path into the bear's cage of a tornado producing supercell, I damn well won't be taking any gravel/dirt roads, I would be making sure they are paved. If they aren't, then I would wait for the storm to pass and find an alternative route.

Secondly, if I was in a situation where I was in the path of a tornado producing mesocyclone, and I got stuck somehow, the last thing I would do is drive into the field and try to escape with my car. What would have happened if you guys weren't so lucky with the tornadoes around you? If a tornado dropped on top of you guys while you were in your cars trying to go through the field, the outcome yesterday would have been very gruesome. The best course of action is to try to find a place to take shelter.

Thirdly, by looking at how far some people got into that field from those images earlier, that would imply several cars drove over a long track of crops, causing crop loss there. This isn't just driving through someone's backyard, it's damaging their income/business. Hence, it would not surprise me at all if the farmer DOES take legal action of some kind.

I am glad no body was hurt. However, driving through a muddy farm field to try to escape a potentially deadly tornado situation is the last course of action I would have taken.

 

[Ryan Wichman]

I am glad no body was hurt. However, driving through a muddy farm field to try to escape a potentially deadly tornado situation is the last course of action I would have taken.

Isn't that what DID happen?

I am very interested to see how this all plays out today. Hopefully the night of sleep for the farmer cooled him off a little bit.

 

[Matthew K. Hartman]

It's hard to say, Robert, if indeed, this is really private property, but if it is, then that means the farmer bought this land. Which, in turn, means, it's his land and he can do whatever he wants to it. He can plow over the entire length of that road, if it falls on his property...

Regressing, whether the road was plowed over is irrelevant to this situation anyway, so really, I have no idea why we're arguing about it.

My main point is, it's not the farmer's fault these guys made a poor decision.

Who turns into a field, to avoid a tornado, anyway? I don't get it. My first instinct would be to turn around and go back the way I came. Why wasn't this an option?

I'm pretty sure you can't plow over a road and claim it to be "private property," which is the scenario Jay was talking about.

 

[Chris Foltz]

Who turns into a field, to avoid a tornado, anyway? I don't get it. My first instinct would be to turn around and go back the way I came. Why wasn't this an option?

My understanding, someone please correct me if I'm wrong, is this was an east/west road that dead ended at the eastward extent into the field. The only north/south option would have been a mile back to the west. With the tornadic mesocyclone approaching from that direction, there was no chance of making it back to that road to get south.

 

[Josh Richardson]

From the video I've seen from one of the chasers stuck, I didn't see turning around being an option considering the tornado was still on the ground and traveling their direction when they entered the field...basically it was coming at them from behind so traveling back at the tornado wouldnt have been a great option either. Only after everyone was in the field and apparently stuck did it then completely rope out and dissipate.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

Who turns into a field, to avoid a tornado, anyway? I don't get it. My first instinct would be to turn around and go back the way I came. Why wasn't this an option?

It would be easy for anyone who wasn't there to not get it, I wasn't but I certainly understand that they had to take drastic measures to protect their own lives. They had tornadoes coming right at them, simply turning around and going back the way they came would have took them straight into multiple tornadoes. If the road had gone all the way though, as the map showed, then they would have been safe. I'm pretty sure that driving into a field isn't something they had planned or wanted to do, and was probably their very last resort to protect themselves from violent tornadoes.

Several years ago during a snow storm I was out taking pictures, my GPS showed a road that went through so I took it. It had a road sign, it looked like a good road to me - it was even paved, the map showed it went straight through so I had no reason to think it didn't. I was driving down the road and suddenly found myself a couple of feet into a field when the road suddenly ended. Luckily I was able to get out.

 

[Jay McCoy]

It's hard to say, Robert, if indeed, this is really private property, but if it is, then that means the farmer bought this land. Which, in turn, means, it's his land and he can do whatever he wants to it. He can plow over the entire length of that road, if it falls on his property...

Regressing, whether the road was plowed over is irrelevant to this situation anyway, so really, I have no idea why we're arguing about it.

My main point is, it's not the farmer's fault these guys made a poor decision.

Who turns into a field, to avoid a tornado, anyway? I don't get it. My first instinct would be to turn around and go back the way I came. Why wasn't this an option?

It will be interesting to find out if the farmer owned the land over the road or he plowed it illegally. If so his actions led to the others so that can mitigate the civil damage. If they had to bail into his field to avoid a life threatening situation BECAUSE the road no longer existed then he could be held responsible. Ofcourse this all depends on if he or the county own the road. If there arent any private property signs on the road then I doubt he does.

And from the way I read it the tornado was coming at them so backtracking would have taken them closer to the tornado. They were trapped and tried to go south to get out of the path. if so then trying to save your life takes precedent. remember at times you only need to move a few hundred yards or so to get out of the path depending on its size. I know Mike U. and have tons of respect for him and I know he wouldnt have done something like that unless it was a last resort. he is a very smart and responsible chaser.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Who turns into a field, to avoid a tornado, anyway? I don't get it. My first instinct would be to turn around and go back the way I came. Why wasn't this an option?

Because the tornadoes were coming STRAIGHT AT US. Chasers kept bailing down that road and we all traffic jammed where the field began and had no other option.

I at no point have expressed any anger towards the farmer for his decisions...my guess is he doesn't want to take his tractors out on the wet field and tear more stuff up. I dont blame him for being upset...

As far as what we were doing on the road to begin with...why not use it? I drive a large 4x4 with all terrain tires that is perfectly capable of handling backroads...Ive taken it down terrible muddy wet roads without issue. When I was on the road I was fine but the road ended, so I dont want to hear anything about how I shouldnt have been on that road to begin with, its not like im trying to offroad in a ford focus.

This is actually my first incident with mapping software with this kind of situation...I never realized it was such a common issue...scary.

 

[Josh Richardson]

Forgive me is this already posted in this thread somewhere but I don't see it.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3zTG-KnTM8

I see Adam posted right before, I believe this is his video anyway.....I posted it basically backing up what I was saying earlier about backtracking not being an option.

 

[Scott Bennett]

Hey Everyone

Good news is I talked to the farmer and we are meeting them later to pull us out.

This was a really strange situation since the road was clearly marked with a designation.
When we got on the road there were no min maint signs, no road ends, no dead end nothing it just stopped. I don't like to chase close and we surely were not trying to.

I am thankful we are all safe and I have no problem working something out with the farmer, we did drive thru his field.

The local LEO's were fit to be tied, I got a little more torture than everyone else and both experiences are nothing I ever want to repeat in my life ever again.

Thanks everyone who contacted me and talked to my wife on FB I really appreciate everything this community does when someone is in need. Bart Comstalk & Mike Umschied were great and it's amazing the things Bart will do to help someone out.

Well Domino's is almost here to bring Ben and I our first meal in 26 hours so thanks again everyone.