St. George City Manager Gary Esplin said there is $75 million to $85 million in damage to public infrastructure.

"That's a lot of bridges, parks, trails, sewer and waterlines," he said. "Half of our water comes from the Gunlock well system, and we lost a major waterline there. We have to have it back on line by April to use for our culinary water."

Old Highway 91 remains closed after flooding damaged 600 feet of the roadway. Water and sewer lines buried along the road also were damaged and are off line.

"We wanted to let the Legislature know why we need the money now instead of six months from now," said Rep. David Clark, R-Santa Clara. "This is a growing community, and it takes a lot of money to put infrastructure in place. A lot of that money is borrowed, and we're trying to rebuild that."

Valentine thanked area legislators for inviting the group to Washington County and for the one-on-one tour.

"We recognize Washington County is a vital part of the state. We're going to look at ways to help out in the immediate future with bridge loans, and we'll look at what we can constitutionally do," he said. "We brought the leadership team today. That really is our attempt to show you we're trying to listen to what you're saying."

---

E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com