The intense storm, described by emergency officials as containing straight-line winds potentially stronger than some tornadoes, uprooted trees, flattened barns, tore the roofs off buildings, and toppled a 275-foot cell tower located off of 29140 County Highway 117, near. The intense storm, described by emergency officials as containing straight-line winds potentially stronger than some tornadoes, uprooted trees, flattened barns, tore the roofs off buildings, and toppled a 275-foot cell tower located off of 29140 County Highway 117, near. The mitigation objective of this Fact Sheet is to improve the resilience of communications towers, masts and antennas that support vital communications functions at critical facilities so they can continue to operate safely. Communications antennas often are mounted on towers or masts at heights. Building communication towers involves a lot of important steps. You must prepare the site, erect the tower, and perform regular maintenance. Water can absorb and scatter radio waves, reducing the signal strength between your phone and the cell tower. For. This 275-foot guyed tower near Beresford, South Dakota, was no match for the straight-line winds exceeding 90 mph that tore through Lincoln County on Monday night. The multi-carrier structure, which supported antennas for AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, collapsed during the powerful storm, severing.