Pleasant Grove converts road into a river

Minor to moderate flooding was reported Sunday as hot weather continued to melt the phenomenal snowpack that has covered Utah's higher elevations.

Pleasant Grove developed its own smaller version of Salt Lake City's "State Street River" of 1983. The "Fifth North Stream" came into being when floodwaters were diverted down that street after a channel became backed up.

"We had a blockage in one of our channels that took water from our debris basin down to the canal," Mayor Jim Danklef said, speaking by telephone from the site Sunday afternoon.

More spring runoff water than officials had anticipated was running down Grove Creek, he said. When the channel became blocked, the fast water began to erode canal banks. "So we had to run it down Fifth North," he said.

The current popped out pieces of the street's blacktop. Rather than allow the entire road to become damaged by the stream, officials decided to use concrete barriers to channel the water down the middle of the road.

The plan is to have vehicles driving on both sides of the street while the stream flows between the barriers in the middle. But it was uncertain when the project would be completed.

"We've got it under control pretty well," Danklef said.

"We've had an outpouring of help from the (LDS) wards and stakes," he added. An estimated 450 volunteers and city employees filled sandbags for the project. He estimated the city has 25,000 sandbags. Forklifts and other equipment were in place, and city employees were working to control the stream.

People brought food and drinks, and volunteer truck drivers hauled material. At the site of the overflow, so many volunteers showed up that many were thanked and sent home because there wasn't room to use all of them.

By Sunday afternoon, no Pleasant Grove homes had been damaged.

In Iron County, officials closed the Mid-Valley Road west of Enoch from 2700 West to the Lund Highway. An open field had filled with snowmelt, and the water was threatening neighboring homes. Workers were planning to cut through the highway so water would flow away from the homes. Relief isn't projected for several homes until late Tuesday.

Rising water levels caused a problem for some boaters at Utah Lake Sunday. As the boaters were leaving the area via Boat Harbor Road, 6000 West in American Fork, a massive sinkhole swallowed their sport utility vehicle, said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon.