CANTON, S.D. (KELO) — It has been about a year since flash flooding devastated parts of southeast KELOLAND.

One of the towns hit hard was Canton.

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The sudden onslaught of rain is still fresh in residents’ minds, but the town has made plenty of progress.

Flash flooding in Lincoln County in June of last year turned creeks into powerful rivers.

“Canton was getting hit the hardest. There were two or three times where we couldn’t get in or out of Canton whatsoever because of water over Highway 18,” Lincoln County Emergency Manager Harold Timmerman said.

The rain left behind flooded streets and fields and damaged the Lincoln County Courthouse.

The water also impacted the Canton Public Library.

“The water in the basement of the library was probably up over our shoes, so maybe two or three inches deep,” Canton Public Library Director Tracey Zylstra said.

Zylstra says she had learned from the flood that caused the destruction of a bridge in Lincoln County 10 years prior, so she avoided disaster by keeping the historical items stored in the basement off the floor.

However, she was still concerned about the books upstairs.

“We had dehumidifiers going, we had lots of shop vacs up here soaking up the floor, and the issue was that the humidity in the library was high, which is very detrimental to books. It was important that we got the library dried out,” Zylstra said.

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Luckily, Zylstra says she did not lose any books, but other people throughout town were not as lucky. Eventually, a pile of debris starting forming at the high school.

“That was a big, impressive site,” Timmerman said.

Now, there’s still some work that needs to be done. A stretch of 274th Street north of Canton is still closed because of a washed out road.

“It’s long term and still ongoing in some places. The initial cleanup, it was done quite quick, but the long term stuff, fixing places like the one behind me here takes a lot of time,” Timmerman said.

But other places, like the library, are back to normal.

“We are doing well. The library is nice and dry. We’ve had a very busy summer. We’re loving every minute of our summer reading program,” Zylstra said.

And Canton will keep making progress.

“It’s something you kind of learn from history, and hopefully, we can move forward positively,” Zylstra said.

Timmerman also says there was over $11 million worth of damage throughout Lincoln County.