Soggy sagas in Draper and Ogden

Soggy ground and relentless rain wiped out a Draper road this week, leaving hillside homeowners warily eyeing the city's slopes for any sign of movement.

And in Ogden Valley, several residents couldn't reach their homes after a water main broke.

In Draper, water gushed down 300 East about 14300 South Wednesday, undercutting roughly 200 feet of the street that then collapsed. The torrent also washed out the curb and pushed over a resident's fence.

"It was a lot of water. Whenever it rains it's like a river," said Debbie Colt, whose back yard abuts the ruptured street. "When it was raining all night, we were out here checking."

The high amounts of water left by the wet weather were only exacerbated by ongoing excavation for a new 5-foot water pipeline cutting through Draper and Sandy. The pipe's path runs along 300 East, and storm-drain water was being diverted to one side of the street during construction.

The compounded drainage was too much for the already saturated ground, said Bill Ward, superintendent for construction group W.W. Clyde.

"We've been kind of dealing with all the rain, and it got to be too much," he said.

The road fracture will be a major setback to the pipeline work, said Robyn Clayton of Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy. The washed-out roadway will also put a hold on the completion of 300 East, which will eventually connect with Bangerter Highway.

"It's just the enormous amount of water we've had. It's slowing down the construction efforts, and now all their attention is focused on the road erosion," she said. "Hopefully we'll dry out and they'll be able to continue."

The soggy soil on Draper's south mountain slopes also left another family with mud seeping into their home after a water main broke on Burning Oak Drive near Corner Canyon. The easy movement of the wet earth may have induced the break and offered little absorption for the broken line, city spokeswoman Maridene Hancock said.

Mud flowed into the yards and into the homes of at least two families in the recently finished Draper subdivision and likely will not be completely hauled away for several days.

Draper resident Summer Pugh said she's worried this week's mud movement and rushing water could mean more dangerous landslides in the future. As Draper subdivisions creep higher on the steep slopes of South Mountain, Pugh said there's no guarantee foundations of homes may not start slipping with the earth.