Colleen Haggerty considered her family lucky after a tornado hit her home in Minden.
“It was stormy. My daughter was here,” Haggerty said. “She was looking out the door and says, ‘It looks like the tornado is coming.' And she turned around and then looked back. I said, 'Oh, it's going the other way.' And then she turned back around and says, 'It's coming.' We ran around the corner there — and it hit.”
Fortunately, Haggerty, her daughter and two grandchildren endured the storm without physical injuries.

“The whole east wall, you could see daylight around the top and down the sides, the roof,” Haggerty said. “I lost my garage, my patio, shed and I had stuff come through the kitchen windows.”
Across the street, a different image played out.
"There's people that had it worse,” Haggerty said. “One, two, three houses right across the street, a couple more down. You can see where they're rebuilding. Those are all being replaced.”

Mayor Kevin Zimmerman says the twister destroyed 50 homes and 90% of businesses. Getting back to normal is more of a marathon than a sprint.
“We're still working on rebuilding," he said. "Attitudes seem to be real high. There are a few that moved away, but a few that want to come back, so we'll just keep plugging away.”

Progress continued as several construction crews could be seen in the community of 600 people in Pottawattamie County.
“The community is pulling together, and I just hope all the business losses and stuff doesn't ruin the town, you know?” Zimmerman added.
Zimmerman said the community sustained an estimated $12 million in damage. One of his top priorities is rebuilding the water treatment plant, which still needs $500,000 in funding. He hopes to start bidding for the project by next spring, with construction wrapped up by the summer of 2026.
The town also lost its community club, city park and baseball diamond. Zimmerman admitted that restoring everything back to normal could take a decade.
“We’re going to try and work on a lot less time than that, but it just takes time to fill out all the paperwork and keep the ball rolling,” Zimmerman said. “We’re going to come back stronger than ever.”
Zimmerman said some residents saw setbacks as they struggled with insurance claims, which delayed some rebuilding.
“The big thing is you have insurance; the house is gone," he said. "You have insurance for X amount of dollars. Why are we arguing about it? Just pay the damn money!”
Zimmerman personally took a hit from the storm. It destroyed nine of his 13 properties.
“I ordered everything within a few weeks of the storm, I didn't wait for insurance. A lot of people can't do that, you know,” he said. “I didn't get paid for probably three months, but I'd already spent $500,000 rebuilding. “There's still people waiting, still people working on it, still people working with SBA and FEMA.”

A spokesperson with the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has provided almost $150,000 in individual assistance in Minden and is working with the city on public assistance projects.
Colleen Haggerty returned to her home in Minden right before Halloween, after spending months living in Council Bluffs while she waited for repairs to her property.
“I just hope nobody ever has to go through that," she said. "My grandkids are still traumatized.”