Jesse Folk Jr., tried to keep his parents unaware of what was unfolding outside their bedroom in the wee hours of Sunday, but when the water reached the windowsill, “I knew it was time to wake them up.”
At 2 a.m., Jesse carried his mother, Susan, outside while his father, Jesse Sr., made his way into their pickup truck. But they would only go as far as the edge of their property.
The Folks live in what is colloquially known as “Folkville,” a collection of modest homes and businesses on the southeast edge of town that abuts Rock Creek, which feeds into Elm Creek.
“They refused to leave,” Jesse said of his parents. Through the dark of the night, Jesse Sr. and Susan waited out the terrific storm, where the intermittent flashes of lightning illuminated the eerie scene unfolding.
Time was of essence.
Folk said he and his wife, Kim, who live in rural Iola, came into town around midnight to check on their properties as well as his parents.
“When we crossed the bridge and I saw the water was 10 feet from the back of their house, I knew we were in trouble,” Folk said. By then it was 1:15 a.m.
After taking Kim home, Folk called his sons, Brady and Baron, for help. With them came their friends Buddy Ware and Keanen Badders.
As fast as they could, the men unloaded as much of a metal machine shop as they could into a nearby trailer.
But they could not beat the fast-rising river.
“I’ve been through four floods, and it’s the fastest I’ve ever seen the river rise,” Folk, age 47, said. “It was more like a flash flood.”
In fact, the water came up higher on their property than the flood of 2007 that flooded much of Iola.
In the machine shop, the water line is about 5 feet high.
In their home next door, the water line is 4 feet high in their bedroom and 3 feet high in the slightly higher levels of the home.
“It’s ruined everything,” Jesse Sr., said as he sat wearily on the front porch amid piled furniture and personal belongings.
