Flooding hits Utah: Areas that were hurt by wildfire now hit by rain

OAK CITY, Millard County — In a torrent of rain, they stacked sandbags.

People trampled an elderly woman's flowerbeds, trying to save her home as a moat of muddy water formed around the property. Trucks pulled up with pallets of sandbags and men threw them to each other, fortifying the driveway from the fast-moving floodwaters.

"Everybody helps everybody here," Kevin Anderson said Thursday night as he walked over a muddy lawn to inspect the backyard for flood damage.

The woman wasn't even there to appreciate the hard work. She was with her husband, who neighbors said was in a care center after suffering a stroke.

Massive thunderstorms moving across Utah have triggered severe flooding. Authorities say areas already devastated by wildfires are now being hit by rain, sending water and mud down canyons and hillsides and into homes.

Flooding has also been reported in Salt Lake County, the Sanpete County town of Fountain Green, where a wildfire is still burning, and in Grantsville, where rains helped firefighters get control of another blaze.

More thunderstorms are expected today.

Here, flooding hit for a second straight day, destroying a newly paved bridge and sending about two feet of mud and water oozing into homes.

"It was terrifying," Karla Dutson said as she stood outside her flooded basement Thursday.

She was in the doorway of her children's room when the windows shattered. Several feet of mud and water destroyed everything.

"It ran through the house for about a half-hour," said her husband, Craig Dutson. "There was nothing you could do."

In Oak Creek Canyon, floodwaters stranded about 30 recreationists. Rock and mud about three feet deep covered the road.

On Thursday, authorities were able to clear the road long enough to get people out. The canyon is now closed.

Late Thursday night in Salt Lake County, police dispatchers said they had fielded calls reports of flooding basements primarily along the south valley and as far east as Cottonwood, west to West Jordan and also in Midvale as a quick-moving thunderstorm moved across the valley about 10 p.m. By about 11:30 p.m., no injuries had been reported.

Roads were also flooded in Sandy, Tooele, and Magna, National Weather Service meteorologist Linda Cheng reported. In some places, up to 2 feet of water had accumulated on the streets.

Some homes were also flooded in Fountain Green. Rainstorms moved over the area Wednesday night, putting a foot of water in some basements. Nearby, firefighters are still battling the Salt Creek fire.

"It was definitely muddy and full of ash," Sanpete County Sheriff Kevin Holman told the Deseret Morning News on Thursday.