Update on Southern Utah County Flooding

Two days of heavy rains on a fire-denuded hillside loosened mudslides onto a Santaquin neighborhood Thursday night, flooding basements, moving cars and depositing 500-pound boulders.

Three-foot-deep slides filled, overflowed and breached a drainage canal before hitting the homes.

No injuries were reported, but dispatchers said about seven to 10 homes initially were thought to have been affected, and an evacuation was ordered for the subdivision. Officers searched to make sure no one was trapped, but it appeared everyone was accounted for.

Residents had feared slides since the hillside was left bare by a wildfire last year.

More than 100 people had gathered in a Mormon meeting house in the center of the town 56 miles south of Salt Lake City. They included evacuees and volunteers ready to help those displaced.

The canal also was reported to have overflowed in the Spring Lake area, and roads there were blocked off, but there was no immediate report of damage.

There were scattered reports of street and highway flooding in other areas of central and southern Utah Thursday, including Emery, Price and Green River and in the Lake Powell and Canyonlands areas. Funnel clouds were reported earlier in the day at Ephraim and East Carbon, but they reportedly did not touch down and no damage was reported.

Update on Southern Utah County Flooding

I know Utah Girl and others have been following this story. My sister lives in the effected subdivision so I have been following this quite closely as well.

As I passed the area on the way into work it was obvious that it was not business as usual in Santaquin. The fire station was overflowing with emergency workers. As I made my way east through town all traffic was blocked and access denied except to local residents. The area was loaded with heavy earth moving equipment, emergency vehicles and of course the press. As I passed Springlake I noticed very heavy activity on the south end of town there as well.

If I understand correctly the canal has not actually broken but simply filled up with mud causing most the water to flood over the sides. It sounds as though they are diverting water into different canals to help disperse the excess water.

When I tried to place a call to my sister at 8:00 PM to see if she needed help I was greeted with an operator-intercept message since many lines were down and there was a heavy influx of calls placed to the area.

In general it’s nice to see the drought coming to an end but with flash floods, hail, multiple tornadoes and funnel clouds it has made for an interesting time here in Utah.

Kuerno

Two days of heavy rains on a fire-denuded hillside loosened mudslides onto a Santaquin neighborhood Thursday night, flooding basements, moving cars and depositing 500-pound boulders.

Every time I pass the Palisade, just east of Grand Junction, and see that massive wall just a few yards from the interstate I think... "If that EVER gets really wet........"

I checked out the area with my mapping software and it appears that it is VERY localized. The 'canal' appears to run alongside a fairly steep hillside where the mud is quite close to it. No wonder it would clog it. The are some 'debris' ponds on the southside of town, looks like they're designed to catch stuff coming off the hills going north into town.

Last year, around 4th 0f July, I was south of Moab, very near Potash, and I got to see railroad workers removing a few yards of material, that had washed down in the latest rainstorm, from the tracks.

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