PARKERSBURG - More than two dozen people, including state and local elected officials, Tuesday toured six communities affected by the tornadoes and floods of May and June to view the damage first-hand.

"There's a lot left to do," said Cedar Falls Mayor Jon Crews.

The tour included members of the Rebuild Iowa Advisory Commission, who were meeting later in Cedar Falls.

Courtney Greene, Gov. Chet Culver's press secretary, helped commission members get a handle on the needs of the state. It was the group's third tour of different affected areas in the state.

"It helps to see the areas that were most severely affected," Greene said.

In Parkersburg, houses continue to spring up after nearly half the town was leveled by an EF5 tornado on May 25. The twister tore a path of destruction spanning four counties.

Virgil Goodrich, Parkersburg's economic development director, said around 250 homes and 20 businesses were affected by the twister. But the town has bounced back. More than 150 building permits have already been issued there.

"We're coming back very strong and quickly," Goodrich said.

In New Hartford, which was hit first by the tornado and flooding two weeks later, the residents have also rolled up their sleeves. The library and post office will be opening in coming months. Classes also began this week at the Dike-New Hartford Junior High and New Hartford Elementary schools' complex, Mayor Richard Young said.

But there's plenty left to do in hard-hit Butler County. More than 1,400 people applied for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And cities are bracing for the long-term effects on their annual budgets.

"It's going to be in the millions," Goodrich said.

In Waverly, water seepage issues continue to plague the Washington Irving Elementary School, which was inundated by a nearby dry run creek, said Jere Vyverberg, Waverly-Shell Rock Superintendent.

Vyverberg said the district may end up abandoning the building if the issues persist. Portions of the building are in a flood way, and half the building had water flowing through it. Then there's the recent history of flood disasters.

Bremer County has been included in eight presidential disaster declarations since 1993, all flood-related.

"That's plenty of reason for me to say I don't want to put kids in a flood plain," Vyverberg said.

In the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area, June flooding is still reshaping the landscape. Cedar Falls Mayor Jon Crews said 193 people, mostly in the North Cedar neighborhood in the northern part of the city, have notified the city that they're interested in buyouts of their property. More than 580 homes were affected by flooding.

Crews said estimates for repair, relocation and demolition for all the flood-affected properties to be around $20 million.

Another 55 homeowners in Waterloo in areas like Sans Souci Island and the Sherwood Park have notified city officials that the have interest in buyouts, said Jamie Knutson of the city's engineering department. Waterloo officials are prioritizing buyouts to target those areas and another home along Black Hawk Road that is not protected by the 20 miles of levees.

Knutson said the levee system successfully handled the flooding, though there were scary moments, like the day when the Cedar River was cresting just below the level of flood walls in downtown Waterloo.

"That's a spooky feeling when you are trying to get everything sandbagged and shut down and they're saying the water is going to exceed your wildest dreams," he said.

U.S First District Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Waterloo, who is up for re-election this year, said he's been trying to allocate as much money as possible to the federal buyout programs because of the scale of this year's flooding.

"We have a sense that the demand from these disaster mitigation through these buyout programs is going to exceed the availability of what's going to be coming through the state," Braley said.

Still, Braley encouraged residents in flood plains to notify local officials about buyout possibilities if their homes have been affected by flooding.

Braley said Congress is still working on getting residents help. A $2.65 billion disaster aid package has been approved, and Braley hoped a second bill would be approved in September once U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Iowa.

Braley called the amount of devastation "overwhelming," but pointed to a light at the end of the tunnel after seeing the tour today.

"You got the sense of being in Parkersburg and New Hartford today that Iowans are very resilient," he said.

Contact Josh Nelson at (319) 291-1565 or josh.nelson@wcfcourier.com.