GILBERT, W.Va. -- Residents in this tiny, flooded coal town hauled, shoveled, scrubbed and scooped gobs of mud from their homes yesterday, the start of a clean-up effort most said would take months to complete.

Debris still littered crumbling roadsides, and the once-tidy town remained a disorienting place for many. They labored throughout the day, even as some wondered whether life here would ever return to normal.

"To put it simply, it's going to take time and dedication, just like all the disasters in the past," said Ron Riffe, 67, of Monroe County, part of a team of relatives helping his elderly aunt clean her rental properties, which filled with mud during the weekend's storms.

Some of the damage was irreparable. "The people here in these mountains are so resilient they always come back. I'm sure it will be the same way this time," Mr. Riffe said.

But no one could say how long it would be before the town would appear as it did before floods ripped apart roadways, washed away bridges and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings. Sgt. Kevin Fraley of the National Guard said troops had made considerable progress in clearing roads of debris and delivering food to trapped people in need, adding that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would soon tally the damage.

"There's hundreds of bridges that still have to be built," Sgt. Fraley said. "A disaster of this magnitude you can't recover from overnight."

Longtime residents said the flood transformed their creekside town, possibly forever. Once-cozy trailers were torn in half, furniture and appliances spilling out of them. Children's toys, clothing and mattresses lined the streets as people scooped away mud using anything they could, including flower pots and paint buckets. Fears lingered over tetanus, mold and mildew.

Motels were booked with displaced people as well as aid workers from other cities.

"Oh my heavens, I have seven rooms of Red Cross, I have three rooms of Salvation Army, I have a radio reporter," said Angel Gibson, manager of the Mountain Breeze Motel, which usually fills up with ATV riders who come to ride the Hatfield-McCoy trails. Gilbert is a place that prides itself on keeping clean, where flowers peep from most front yards and welcome banners lead downtown, she said.

"It was hit hard," Ms. Gibson said. "But the people in Gilbert, they don't give up. They work together."

Those who lost their homes took comfort from help and cooperation of their neighbors. But seeking federal and state aid, they said, was hardly comforting.

April Cline and John Jude, whose house in nearby Nedesbranch was smothered by a mudslide that threw them from their bed, hopped from a Red Cross shelter to the community center in Gilbert seeking a place to stay the night. The couple's home was completely destroyed, and Ms. Cline said it would take at least a month before they would know whether federal aid would help them rebuild.

"We've been on the road for 14 hours, scrounging for places and trying to get some answers," she said. "The Red Cross sends us to the Salvation Army, which sends us outside, which sends us inside. I've been wearing the same clothes day after day. It's really hard."