Deshler, Neb. ? It took nearly a week but reality is hitting home in this Thayer County town ravaged by at least four tornadoes Sunday night.

The storms killed one, injured seven and destroyed many homes and businesses.

Mayor Alan Holle said cleanup is expected to be finished soon.

While people are willing to expend the energy to rebuild the town, he said many finally paused late this week to get a grip on the disaster.

“It is very emotional and people are trying to figure out where to go from here,” he said. “I think the adrenaline finally wore off…”

Joyce Zucker, 74, was among the town residents assessing the damage during cleanup this week. Her two-story brick house was among those hit by the twisters. Only a few walls still stand.

With a tear in her eye, she said she would like to tear those walls down so people could start to forget about what happened. She is ready to start anew, she said, and hopes the rest of Deshler, just north of the Kansas border, will do the same.

Holle said by Thursday reality set in for the tired residents. Sometime in the coming weeks, he said, city officials hope to call a meeting with local business owners to decide where to focus business rebuilding efforts.

For the first few days after the storm, residents fished through piles of rubble that once were their homes and businesses.

Volunteers gathered wood, shingles, dishes, pictures and whatever was left. Flatbed truck drivers hauled away piles of rubble, trying to erase reminders of the tornado’s path on the south edge of town.

Power was restored to nearly all residents by Friday, as the city began a move closer, inch by inch, to what life was before the storm.

“Everyone has been excellent,” Holle said. “We’ve had full cooperation from everyone. Through this whole thing, no tempers have flared. It’s not important here who makes decisions, but that it just gets carried out.”

Although Zucker has been staying with friends since the tornado, she soon will have her own place to live until she rebuilds or finds a permanent home. Paulette Hynek will let Zucker live rent-free in a vacant house where Hynek’s mother once lived.

“She just said it’s yours. Just pay the utilities and you can stay there as long as you want,” Zucker said. “If I could have, I would have crawled through the (telephone) wire and hugged her. It was just a great relief that I had some time to work things through.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency toured the city Wednesday, documenting the extensive damage that has been conservatively estimated in excess of $3 million.

Holle said it remained in doubt whether Deshler would qualify for federal dollars to assist in rebuilding because the disaster may not qualify under minimum damage requirements.

The latest FEMA numbers, however, show most property in Deshler sustained some level of damage.

FEMA numbers show that 307 of the city’s 450 residential buildings were damaged or destroyed. Of those 307, FEMA classified 208 residences as “affected” by the storm, 56 with minor damage, 20 with major damage and 23 destroyed.