CEDAR FALLS - Last year, Kim and Kelli Manfull left their Cottage Row home with 40 inches of water on the main floor.

The flood devastated their home, forcing them out for weeks. A year later, they're nearly done raising their entire home 6 feet to stave off another flood like it.

Nevertheless, they found time to munch on hamburgers and chips and listen to music with their neighbors, hundreds of whom came out for a North Cedar flood remembrance event at North Cedar Elementary School.

"It's a neighborhood event, and we want to stay together as a community," Kim Manfull said.

Despite the lack of air conditioning and space inside North Cedar's gymnasium, the event was packed and overflowing outside. It drew congressional representatives and city leaders to assess their reactions to the one-year anniversary of the flooding.

State Rep. Bob Kressig noted millions in federal and state dollars have been pledged to the area to help with rebuilding, buyouts and down payments on new homes.

"I know that in some cases it didn't go as fast as people wanted it to, but we're moving forward and hopefully people's lives will be better after this process," Kressig said.

Lt. General Ron Dardis of Rebuild Iowa said it's "truly an accomplishment" that nearly half a billion dollars was passed by the Iowa legislature for disaster relief last year.

"We've seen recovery can be very painful," Dardis said, referring to the flooding as well as violent storms last summer. "Disasters are about real people and real communities. Every individual is affected in a different way."

Adel and Tom Kessler of Cedar Falls didn't have flooding in their home last year, but Adel - a special needs teacher at North Cedar - did help sort clothing and other donations when the recovery began.

"It's important to support the community," she said.

Local band The Ramblers started their set out with a cover of bluegrass song, "Man of Constant Sorrow," a sort of reminder of both the trouble North Cedar has seen and the long way they've come.

"It was important to see a time where we can come together and celebrate," said Deacon Tom Sink from St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Cedar Falls. "The community at this school was unbelievable. This was their disaster area."