"What we had is some drainage in a vacant lot," Scott said. "There's a retaining wall that's just been built and water collected on the other side — so much water that it went over the top of the wall and down the street, and from the street it entered the back yards of the homes."

As in Tooele, the Draper houses would have faced worse if not for about 100 volunteers placing sandbags and diverting water into other storm drains in the cul-de-sac away from the dozen or so houses that were threatened.

"The citizens in the area were activated," including members of several LDS Church wards, Scott said. "The city of Draper had a stock of sandbags and they were quick to send filled ones this way. In fact, the response by everybody was pretty remarkable."

Toni Chung, owner of the most severely damaged home, said her husband noticed water was building up in the family's back yard. Then, very suddenly — apparently when the storm drain became clogged — water began rushing down the backyard slope almost like a flash flood. It broke basement windows on the south and east side of the home, and Chung's husband quickly pulled their nephew from the basement and took him to safety.

"It happened so fast, you just feel helpless," Chung said. "We got everybody out OK. I have a lot of stuff down there. Two bedrooms, a bathroom, a family room, storage and lots of pictures and stuff that are irreplaceable."

All residents were able to return home around 12:30 p.m. Monday.

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Contributing: Laura Hancock

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com, zman@desnews.com