May 14--MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa -- Rachel and Ryan Rempel spotted their little red porch just after 2 p.m. Sunday.

It had broken off their house and floated into a field across the street. Inside their Missouri Valley home, floodwater left behind soggy carpet, moldy furniture and a foul, dank smell. The water had been a foot deep. The Rempels, along with many other residents of the Willow Creek neighborhood, trudged through mud on Mother's Day to take their first look at the Missouri Valley homes that were hit hardest by flooding caused by rainstorms a week ago. "It's a disaster in there," Rachel Rempel said. "It looks like a tornado hit." An assessment team of emergency management officials decided to allow residents 18 and older into the Willow Creek neighborhood on foot from 10 a.m.

to 6 p.m. Sunday. The neighborhood will be open again for walk-in traffic from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. today. The area still has no electricity, and residents were told not to turn on the natural gas. Officials will decide this morning whether vehicles will be allowed into the neighborhood today, said Mayor Randy McHugh. "Everything's going along pretty good," McHugh said. "They're opening their windows, getting things cleared out." Ambulances were on hand, and the Fire Department shuttled elderly residents between their damaged homes and temporary housing. Gov. Chet Culver has listed 17 Iowa counties -- including Missouri Valley's county, Harrison -- in an emergency proclamation that allows state equipment and personnel to be used to help local communities at no cost.

A Department of Human Services progra will provide need-based funds to residents whose houses and possessions were destroyed. Today, city crews will clean streets and assess roads. Officials plan to spray for mosquitoes Tuesday. On Sunday, residents got cleanup help from family members, friends and volunteers. Authorities estimate that flooding damaged more than 70 houses in Missouri Valley. McHugh has estimated that as many as 500 residents were displaced from the Willow Creek area. "What I miss most is my clothes," said Jim Tozser, who salvaged a few personal belongings Sunday from the mud that coated most of his house.

Tozser is staying in a nearby motel. Volunteers checked residents in and out of the Willow Creek neighborhood and distributed medical masks to protect them from mold. Volunteers also handed out bottles of water and cooked pork burgers. A registered nurse with the Iowa Department of Public Health was available to give tetanus shots. About 140 people got shots in the week after the flooding. Julie Meade helped rip out waterlogged carpet Sunday from her mother's Willow Creek home, which had taken on about a foot of water on its ground level. The basement was completely flooded. More than a half-dozen family members helped clear damaged couch s and dressers from the house Sunday.

"We're the kind of people who say, hey, well, we can fix it," Meade said as her husband, Duane, shoved a couch out the front door. Meade's mother, Alice Wede, was evacuated May 5 before the house took on too much water. Since then, she has lived with relatives in the area. The Rempels, who have a 2-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter, were also staying with family members. Rachel Rempel said Willow Creek residents planned to hold a community meeting Tuesday to discuss the cleanup. The Rempels considered themselves lucky because their home has two stories, and the water didn't touch the top one.

"We're getting a lot done," Rachel Rempel said.