About 20 people were rescued from flooded homes and vehicles between Saturday night and Sunday morning, as severe storms officially dumped 4 inches of rain overnight, although residents easily recorded double that amount.
Emergency response crews received the first call for help around 9 p.m. Saturday from a person trapped in a vehicle on a flooded road. Over the next several hours, Iola firefighters and EMS used boats to rescue residents from about four homes, Iola Fire Chief Corey Isbell said.
The water rose so quickly that in some cases rescue crews arrived in a boat early Sunday morning and knocked on a home’s door only to find that residents were unaware of the danger, Isbell said .
The Humboldt Fire Department also performed at least two water rescues, and the Anderson County Water Rescue Team from Colony arrived to perform three rescues.
All those displaced by the flooding were able to stay with friends or relatives and there was no need for emergency shelter, Iola Police Chief Jared Warner said.
The most severe flooding appears to be occurring on the southeast side of Iola.
The US 169/54 interchange on the east side of Iola was flooded and closed for several hours, forcing traffic to reroute. It was reopened around 11:30 a.m.
Saturday evening, power was out in south Iola for about two hours.
Iola police installed a temporary stop sign at the intersection of Kentucky and U.S. 54/East Street because the traffic signals were not working, Warner said.
Many roads were closed throughout the county. Crews at Allen County Road and Bridge began erecting barricades Saturday evening, Acting Director Jeremy Hopkins said. They continued to work throughout the weekend to repair damaged roads. Water remained standing on roads west of Humboldt Sunday evening and many roads were washed out. Black roads near Iola were particularly hard hit, Hopkins said.
“Everywhere there is disorder,” he said.
The Iola Water Plant is the official rain gauge for this area and recorded 4.0 inches of rain overnight through Sunday morning.
The Neosho River peaked at 19.92 feet at 11 p.m. Sunday and is expected to fall to 10.3 feet Tuesday morning. The flood stage is 15 feet. For comparison, the 2019 flood was 21.38 feet, the 2007 flood was 26.90 feet, and the 1951 flood was 33.26 feet.
RESIDENTS continued to assess the damage Monday morning.
At Machine Shed, a Kubota dealership, general manager Dwayne Campbell was busy assessing damage to inventory of tractors, mowers and farm implements to see if the flooding “was deep enough to hit everything that matters.” Campbell said someone called him early Sunday morning to report the flooding. Employees quickly arrived and attempted to move the equipment to higher ground, but by then much of the property was underwater.
Other residents shared their experiences on social media. Job and Katrina Springer’s farm was severely flooded. A family member said 22 baby chickens, one adult chicken, four baby goats and four adult goats drowned, with only one adult goat surviving. They rescued pigs, horses, cattle and a donkey.
Iola Transmission announced its closure until further notice as drone photos showed vehicles underwater.
