Race fans rescued as flooding hits Husets campground

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Friday, there was a race against time at Husets Speedway in Brandon. Split Rock Creek was rising fast, threatening to trap campers who are in town for 4 days of racing.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of campers look more like houseboats in the Huset’s campground. Some people had to wade to safety in the knee-deep water. Some of the RVs were already a lost cause.

Split Rock, Brandon, and Valley Springs Fire Departments all responded alongside the Sioux Falls water rescue team. They went out to each camper in boats and made sure no one was trapped.
Jay Masur, CEO of Medstar Dirt Track Race Rescue, says many of these people are from out of state and have nowhere else to go.

“Huset’s put them up in its towers, and they had dry stuff for them to get, so you know, for a bad situation, they made the best of it, and we made, you know, the quick response of everybody in the county was just awesome within minutes they were there. helping get people into safe places, said Masur.

Tim Knippling heard the flood warning and thought about trying to pull his camper out last night, but there were people blocking his way.

“About 8 o’clock this morning, someone knocked on my camper and said we better try and get out if we can, and we got hooked up and tried to get out but got stuck in the mud,” said Knippling.

Knippling says he got worried because the water kept rising. He eventually got a ride to safety.
Masur says a number of people will likely lose their RVs to water damage, but at least everyone is safe.

“You know the campers and things, even my camper might just float down the river, which isn’t important when it comes to people’s safety. So the fact that the city of Sioux Falls and all the departments that I mentioned just came out so quickly and got people out of their campers into safety using their boats and everything else that they brought out, it is just wonderful nobody got hurt that we know of it will get better it always does,” said Masur.

The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series has been postponed due to the rain and mud.