MCCOOK LAKE, SD (KELO) — McCook Lake still has a long road to recovery after a fast and furious flood left multiple homes a total loss last summer.

It was down pouring at McCook Lake this afternoon.

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It was a little reminiscent of the unprecedented flooding late last June. Without much time to react, homes were swept off their foundations and collapsed. Tom and Deanna Jacobs’s home tipped.

“In a couple of hours, everything you worked for all your life is just gone,” Deanna Jacobs said.

“What was so good about this place is that we had a view of the whole lake and all the wildlife over there. It’s something you dream about, and it’s gone in one day,” Tom Jacobs said.

Shelly Lewis’s home was also destroyed.

“It was the home we were going to retire in. Now, what do you do when you’re 61?” Lewis said.

Lewis and the Jacobs have since found other places to live. Some are starting to build new homes.

However, there’s still frustration lingering from residents who feel they could have received more help, but in the year since the flood, people have come together to do things like pick up debris and donate dirt.

“We became a real close community here after the flooding because everybody is helping everybody else,” Tom Jacobs said.

“All of us were in shock, and I think to have each other to lean on is really important,” Lewis said.

But unfortunately, some residents think that McCook Lake may never return to normal.

“It will never be what it was. Now, it is what it is,” Tom Jacobs said.

“It’s just a mess. I mean, it’ll never be the same because most people don’t have the money to rebuild,” Deanna Jacobs said.

The Jacobs say they are unsure of whether they will rebuild at McCook Lake, but Lewis says a new home in the area is not likely for her.