MINDEN, Iowa (KMTV) — Minden, a small southwest Iowa town home to approximately 600 people, was one of the hardest hit by the April 26th tornadoes. About half the town’s homes were destroyed, and one person lost their life. 3 News Now's Zach Williamson was there the next morning, and visited the town again one year later, where he found it continues to come back bigger and better.
- Homeowners tell us building back was never a question.
- Minden Mayor Kevin Zimmerman says most of the town's businesses are coming back. Some have already returned while others are close to reopening.
- "That’s what small towns are all about. That’s how we survive. People rallying together and making it happen.”
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“It’s a nice little town. A nice, quiet town,” Minden Mayor Kevin Zimmerman said.
Not so quiet this past year.
“Oh we’re resilient,” Mayor Zimmerman continued. "We knew we would come back.”
And the work to get back is happening.
Block by block.
“This is the room we were in when the tornado hit,” Minden resident Tracy Wohlhutter told us.
Wohlhutter showed us around her home.
“Everything had to be taken out and really started from the studs and rebuilt back.”
Sara and Kyle Arnold’s family just moved back into their new, old home.
“Oh my gosh, the details of building a house that you never wanted to build or ever thought you’d be building, and having to do it now,” Sara said.
Kyle wasn’t with his family the day of the storm.
“You know, this time was like all the others," he said. "We go out, we sit and we watch.”
Kyle is on the Minden Fire Department
“I called her and tried texting a bunch of people, and I’m like, 'Get in your basements. Just get in your basements.'”
He rushed home, driving over light poles and through yards to get to his family and neighbors.
"As soon as it started to hit buildings, I knew it was coming for our side of town."
The tornado ripped through the heart of Minden.
“26 businesses I think in town, and I think there was only like four still running,” Mayor Zimmerman told us.
One of the businesses that was able to remain open throughout – countryside market – the grocery store here in Minden. Where I'm standing right now used to be where the pharmacy sat. The pharmacy and the town’s doctor are now gone, and the closest pharmacy is more than 20 miles away from Minden. But most of the businesses in town are building back.
Randy Price, a Minden-lifer, has been running Price Cooling, Heating and Electrical for decades.
“My son who works for me called and said, ‘Dad, the shop is gone,'" Price remembers. "Everything was just a total loss. It was just a big wad of metal when we got in here.”
He hopes to be working from his shop again by the Fourth of July.
A few back open already include the Cafe, Tim’s Service and C & A Scales.
“C & A scales was new, was hiring people, people were starting to come to work here in Minden — that’s a huge thing for a small community to have a business like that,” Sara Arnold said.
Continuing down Main Street –
“We lost our community club, our ball diamonds,” Mayor Zimmerman said.
Community Club Board Member Julie McDermott showed us where it used to be.
“This was our store room off the kitchen.”
She is optimistic about the future.
“The plan is to rebuild and hopefully make it better than what it was.”
It’s been an extremely challenging year for the small town, but from day one, this community has faced it together.
“That night, when they raised that flag, that video,” I recalled to McDermott.
“That was my boys,” she replied.
“It was your boys?” I asked.
“Yeah, two of my boys,” she answered.
“Julie, that was one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen,” I replied.
“It was," McDermott said. "Still brings tears to my eyes when I watch it.”
Kyle Arnold said, “The flag goes up, we move forward, we get it done.”
“And that’s what small towns are all about," Wohlhutter added. "That’s how we survive. People rallying together and making it happen.”
Not just building back but also building new. Mayor Zimmerman was excited to tell us about new housing in Minden, with the additions of duplexes and quadplexes.
Neighbors plan to gather at the town’s park on the one year anniversary Saturday for a barbecue. Nothing flashy planned – just simply enjoying one another’s company.
