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THIS TIME OUT. THE RAIN FOR YOU COMING UP IN JUST MOMENTS. BACK TO YOU. OUR HOUSE LIFTED AND SET BACK DOWN AND IT WAS LIKE A BOMB WENT OFF OR SOMETHING. WHEN THEY COME BACK DOWN, I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE. THAT’S HOW TWO MINDEN IOWA RESIDENTS DESCRIBED HOW THEY FELT JUST DAYS AFTER A DEADLY EF3 TORNADO RIPPED THROUGH THEIR TOWN. NOW, TWO YEARS LATER, RECOVERY EFFORTS STILL REMAIN. KETV NEWSWATCH SEVEN’S BETH CARLSON SPOKE WITH RESIDENTS, REFLECTING ON THE DAY THAT ALTERED THEIR ENTIRE COMMUNITY. MADDIE, IN THOSE TWO YEARS, MINDEN HAS SEEN DOZENS OF HOMES BE REBUILT FOR RESIDENTS. AND WHILE THEY’RE STILL WORKING TO FUND PROJECTS LIKE THE TOWN’S BASEBALL FIELD, THE TOWN HAS PAVED THE WAY FOR NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE AFTERMATH OF THAT DEADLY TORNADO. FOR THE COMMUNITY OF MINDEN, IOWA, APRIL 26TH, 2024 IS FOREVER IMPRINTED IN THEIR HISTORY. WE HAD SOME FRIENDS TEXTING US WHO ARE ON THE LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENT THAT WERE OUT SPOTTING THE STORMS, AND THEY WERE TEXTING US SAYING, THIS IS SERIOUS. YOU NEED TO GET TO YOUR BASEMENT. FAST FORWARD TWO YEARS LATER, THE MEMORIES ARE STILL FRESH. IT WAS SCARY. WE WERE JUST HUNKERED DOWN IN THE BASEMENT AND THANK GOD WE WEREN’T HURT. NOW, RESIDENTS LIKE TRACY WOHLHUTER SAY IT’S HARD TO TELL. A TORNADO DESTROYED ALMOST HALF OF ALL HOMES. WE STILL HAVE THINGS TO DO. WE KNOW THAT. BUT WE HAVE. A LOT OF OUR RESIDENTS ARE BACK IN THEIR HOMES, AND WE HAVE NEW HOMES IN TOWN, EVEN ABOVE AND BEYOND WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY HERE IN 2024. PROVING THERE’S MORE TO MINDEN. IT’S JUST A NICE, QUIET COMMUNITY. I LIKE TO PLAY OUTSIDE WITH MY ANIMALS. THEN JUST WHAT TORE IT APART WHILE THE TORNADO MAYBE PUT A PAUSE ON IT. WE DON’T WANT THAT TO DEFINE US. WE DON’T WANT THAT TO LIKE, PUT A STOP TO THINGS THAT WE’RE GOING TO DO THIS SUMMER. THE CITY WILL CELEBRATE HOW FAR THEY’VE COME A YEAR AFTER THEIR OFFICIAL 150TH, WITH ALL THE TORNADO THINGS WE WERE STILL DEALING WITH, WE HAD A LOT OF PEOPLE STILL NOT BACK IN THEIR HOMES. AND SO WE JUST DIDN’T FEEL LIKE IT WAS QUITE THE RIGHT TIME. AND SO THIS YEAR, WE’RE PLANNING A BIG CELEBRATION, OUR 150TH PLUS ONE CELEBRATION. AND WE REALLY HOPE THAT PEOPLE FROM THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES WILL COME AND SUPPORT US AND JUST SEE THE GREAT PROGRESS WE’VE MADE IN OUR TOWN. THAT EVENT WILL HAVE A PARADE OF BARBECUE, COOKOFF CONTESTS, CARNIVAL GAMES FOR KIDS, AND A CAR SHOW. ORGANIZERS SAY IT’S A CHANCE TO CELEBRATE THE NEXT CHAPTER IN
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‘See the great progress we’ve made’: Minden community on the two-year anniversary of devastating EF-3 tornado
The deadly April 24th, 2024 tornado damaged 40% of Minden homes, killed one person and injured three others.
Two years after the Arbor Day tornado outbreak, residents of Minden, Iowa, are reflecting on the EF-3 tornado that devastated their community on April 26, 2024, destroying nearly half the town’s homes. Families in Minden remember the terrifying moment.”We had some friends texting us who are on the local fire department that were out spotting the storms. And they were texting us saying, this is serious. You need to get to your basement,” Tracy Wohlhuter said. “We were just hunkered down in the basement, and thank God we weren’t hurt,” Tory Crosier said. Despite the destruction, residents like Wohlhuter say the town has made significant progress. “We still have things to do. We know that, but we have a lot of our residents are back in their homes, and we have new homes in town, even above and beyond what was originally here in 2024,” Wohlhuter said. Minden is proving to be more than the tornado that tore it apart. The town has applied for grant funding to help build back its baseball field and has finished construction on new townhomes.”While the tornado maybe put a pause on it, we don’t want that to define us. We don’t want that to, like, put a stop to things that we’re going to do,” a resident said.This summer, the city will celebrate its progress with a “150th plus one” event, marking a year after its official 150th anniversary. “With all the kind of tornado things that we were still dealing with, we had a lot of people still not back in their homes. And so, we just didn’t feel like it was quite the right time. This year, we’re planning a big celebration, our 150th plus one celebration,” Wohlhuter said. “We really hope that people from the surrounding communities will come and support us and just see the great progress we’ve made in our town.”The July 11 celebration will feature a parade, a barbecue cook-off contest, carnival games for kids, and a car show, offering residents and visitors a chance to honor Minden’s resilience and embrace the next chapter in its history.
Two years after the Arbor Day tornado outbreak, residents of Minden, Iowa, are reflecting on the EF-3 tornado that devastated their community on April 26, 2024, destroying nearly half the town’s homes.
Families in Minden remember the terrifying moment.
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“We had some friends texting us who are on the local fire department that were out spotting the storms. And they were texting us saying, this is serious. You need to get to your basement,” Tracy Wohlhuter said.
“We were just hunkered down in the basement, and thank God we weren’t hurt,” Tory Crosier said.
Despite the destruction, residents like Wohlhuter say the town has made significant progress.
“We still have things to do. We know that, but we have a lot of our residents are back in their homes, and we have new homes in town, even above and beyond what was originally here in 2024,” Wohlhuter said.
Minden is proving to be more than the tornado that tore it apart. The town has applied for grant funding to help build back its baseball field and has finished construction on new townhomes.
“While the tornado maybe put a pause on it, we don’t want that to define us. We don’t want that to, like, put a stop to things that we’re going to do,” a resident said.
This summer, the city will celebrate its progress with a “150th plus one” event, marking a year after its official 150th anniversary.
“With all the kind of tornado things that we were still dealing with, we had a lot of people still not back in their homes. And so, we just didn’t feel like it was quite the right time. This year, we’re planning a big celebration, our 150th plus one celebration,” Wohlhuter said. “We really hope that people from the surrounding communities will come and support us and just see the great progress we’ve made in our town.”
The July 11 celebration will feature a parade, a barbecue cook-off contest, carnival games for kids, and a car show, offering residents and visitors a chance to honor Minden’s resilience and embrace the next chapter in its history.
