Waterville is still dealing with the fallout from flooding that ravaged this community in June.

Walk in the neighborhoods south of Lake Tetonka and you’ll see home rebuilds, flooded-out lawns, and here and there, a homowner dealing with mold issues.

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“The heartbreaking part is all the homes over there,” says Kathy Borderbruggen, pointing to a street across from her house. “People, you could just see them taking out furniture and life belongings, and that was harder.”

Many residents are still trying to recover from the rains that started hitting the area in mid-June and went on for days.

Geri Thienes says by June 21, her street was underwater — 15 inches in 30 hours.

“We were over the sandbags,” she recalls. “The walls of the sandbags were failing, and we were submerged underwater for a really long time after that.”

Thienes says her family was running two-inch pumps to keep their house dry.

But then, it got worse.

“All of that water, as high as your waist here, was sitting under the house, so it destroyed all of the sub-floor and everything underneath,” Thienes says.

This makes many here relieved to see that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) opened a disaster recovery center on Friday.

“Every disaster is unique,” explains Cassie Kohn, a FEMA spokesperson. “For the individual affected, it can be one of the worst days they’ve experienced.”

The new center, located in City Hall, will give residents a place to apply for federal financial assistance, download documents, and get information about other agencies that can help.

“It can include serious needs assistance help to relocate temporarily if your home is unlivable, and it can include home repairs and help with personal property losses,” Kohn says.

Borderbruggen says she ripped out all the sheetrock and insulation in her garage only to discover a worse problem. 

“By the time we got in here and the water finally receded, stuff started to mold up the walls pretty bad.”

FEMA says the application process for assistance is a fairly speedy process.

Applicants can be approved for assistance in a week to 10 days, Kohn says, after their homes or properties are inspected for damage.

The agency plans to open another office in Faribault on Saturday.

A FEMA spokesperson says those facilities will remain open as long as there is a need — at least a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the Thienes family estimates the damage to their home at about $100,000.

But they say they haven’t been alone.

“There was some great people from Samaritans Purse and some other places that came out and helped with cleanup and stuff like that,” Thienes recalls. “Volunteers and people trying to keep us going.”