MINDEN, Iowa. (WOWT) – Joyce Zimmerman remembers the moments when an EF-3 tornado hit her house on April 26.

“I passed my kitchen window, and as I glanced out, I could see a big evergreen coming out of the ground,” she said. “By the time I got to the foot of the steps… I heard two real loud booms. Then, it got eerie quiet.”

Now, more than a month and a half later, she said residents are chomping at the bit to rebuild.

“Very anxious to get going. They want to come back.”

Minden Mayor Kevin Zimmerman told 6 News cleanup is finished, and some are beginning to demolish their homes. However, he said many are frustrated with the process, which hinges on the insurance companies.

“They need to just get off the fence and give them some answers so they can go the next step,” he said.

Insurance is also something Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said she discussed while meeting with local and federal officials Tuesday morning.

“They have insurance, but they’re underinsured,” Reynolds said. “So that’s an issue, too. So once we get the insurance kicked in and we understand what they do cover, then we start looking at what some of those other options are.”

Those other options include how much FEMA assistance would pay for.

Mayor Zimmerman said his town still has a grocery store and pharmacy. Beyond that, April’s tornado didn’t leave much else.

“We’ve had a lot of the businesses,” he said. Now, we’ve lost some of them, but I really think they’ll come back as long as we get it back here.”

On top of that, the water treatment plant needs to be rebuilt.

“We were up to specs, everything was going smooth, we had a housing development on the north end of town,” Mayor Zimmerman said. “All we were going to have to do was add another filter and maybe up our pumps, and we were going to be off to the races with that. Well, now it’s gone.

He said they still need to hear more from the insurance company on that, too. He hopes the town can start on rebuilding the water treatment plant in the next year.

For her part, Joyce said she’ll remain patient throughout this process.

“What else to do I have to do?” she said. “I’m retired.”

Watch the governor’s Tuesday news conference

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