VAN BUREN, Mo. -- In the year since the Current River swept through the downtown streets of Van Buren, filling up businesses and homes, recovery has come slowly, but steadily, according to residents.
First Midwest Bank of the Ozarks is among those that saw devastating losses, but is looking forward to the completion of a new building.
Flood waters reached the ceiling of its location on the courthouse square when century-old records were broken April 30, 2017.
The river topped 37 feet, beating a 29-foot record that had been held since 1904.
It was 17 feet above flood stage, higher even than the gauges used to measure the river.
The flood swept through on a Sunday, and by Wednesday, the branch was operational again, said Debbie Gibbs, community bank president.
A single-wide modular building was placed in a parking lot area behind the damaged building. This was replaced later with a double wide modular building.
"We have a data processing and an IT department that got us up and running. It took everybody as a group," Gibbs explained. "We had a contingency plan and we followed that plan."
The bank announced in March 2018 that construction would start this year on a new building, close to its longtime John Street location.
Property on Main Street will be the new home, at the former site of the Coleman building. This building was also damaged during the flood and has since been torn down.
Construction is expected to be complete no later than January 2019, Gibbs said.
Many residents hope to see repairs to homes completed in the summer of 2018, more than a year after the flood.
About 200 homes were damaged or destroyed during a flood that lasted less than 24 hours, according to Dave Truncone, pastor of First Assembly of God Church and a member of the Carter County Long Term Recovery Committee.
"(People) think the water's rolled back and people have moved back into their homes. It doesn't work like that. We're just getting started," said Truncone, who came to Van Buren eight years ago. "We know we've got a lot of work to do, but we're committed to doing it."
Truncone estimates about $1.4 million in donated, water, bleach, food, pet supplies, cleaning items and other necessities flowed through the church to residents in the early days after the flood.
Volunteer groups also began making arrangement to send tools, supplies and helping hands for reconstruction.
But 2017 would also mark the first time the U.S. was hit in the same year by two hurricanes of a Category 4 or greater.
Many of those promises were delayed by months, according to members of the LTRC.
"People might promise you the moon. They're going to do the best they can, but you have to do the work," said Truncone. "I think what we've learned is that to honestly rebuild, it takes the community to do it."
Volunteers have helped make repairs to the home of 75-year-old Kathy Seronello.
Seronello lost all of her family photos, many of her grandchildren's toys, her furniture and almost everything she owned. She had just 10 minutes to evacuate a home she's lived in since 2005.
Seronello thought, living so far from the river, it would be an overnight evacuation at most. She left her orange tabby cat, Tang, with some extra food, and her car in the garage, because the streets were already flooded.
Water was more than seven feet high in the garage.
Through it all, Seronello says she never cried.
"God had it. God knew it was going to happen. He saw us through it. I've been so well taken care of," said Seronello, who found a wet but well Tang hiding in the bedroom when she came home the next day.
While not everyone will be home by the one-year anniversary, Truncone believes many are close.
And the Van Buren community itself will be better after this, he says.
"I do know it will be different. It will never be the way it was. It will be strong, I believe, because there's a unification that's taking place," said Truncone.