MINDEN, Iowa — It was April 26th when the tornado roared across the southeast part of Minden. In all, 50 homes were destroyed, and numerous others were damaged. The city’s utilities were knocked out by the storm.

One year later, almost all has been repaired, but the town’s water supply has a temporary unit borrowed from the State of Iowa.

“It’s been a lot of work I mean we got a lot of houses are coming back, there’s still some that need worked on, but a lot of them are close to being able to move back in,” said Mayor Keith Zimmerman. “The community center, all of our city buildings, they all need worked on yet we haven’t done them yet.”

Paige Myers runs a catering business in Minden. She got a call from her dad shortly after the tornado hit.

“He had called me and they must’ve just been coming over the hill and he’s like ‘the town’s gone. The whole town’s gone,’” said Myers. “I have three aunts and they all live in Minden and the two of them, two of them lost their houses and then my sister-in-law also lost their house.” 

Myers said she was able to finish her catering work even in the midst of tornado damage. She’s thankful for all the people who came to Minden to help clean up.

“A lot of my high school friends all moved away from here and came in that Sunday when they opened the town to people,” said Myers. “I had tons of classmates back from Des Moines or Omaha. They all came back.”

Myers had to repair the roof of her downtown building, but she was able to keep working at her business through all this.

Tim Assmann, of Tim’s Service, decided to rebuild his auto repair shop across the street from his former location. He also built a much larger shop, which he plans to open for business next week.

“Minden itself is a very, it’s only a town of 600 people, a very small community,” said Assmann. “Everyone has gotten together. Everyone is helping each other’s businesses and homeowners, we are Minden Strong.”

The community will enjoy a meal together at the town Triangle Park from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 26.

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