From Deseret News archives:

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

Published: Friday, July 27, 2007 12:24 a.m. MDT
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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.

The flooding comes in some areas already burned out by wildfires, removing vegetation that would hold soil in wet weather.

"We go from 100-degree temperatures to a wildfire that covers 12 miles and the next day, a flood. Holy mackerel!" exclaimed Grantsville Police Sgt. Steve Barrett.

The Tooele County town is cleaning up from flooding that hit a few homes along state Route 138. Mud flowed through areas already burned out by the 14,292-acre Kimbell fire, which is still burning about 15 miles west of Grantsville on the east side of the Stansbury Mountains.

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Recovery teams are already working on long-term plans to seed the areas hit by wildfires. Crews hope to have those in place before the real wet weather begins this fall and into winter.

But Jim Springer with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands concedes there's not much that can be done to prevent flooding happening now.

"The most they can do right now is look at drainages, possible areas of flooding and what's downstream," he said. "Do some sort of barrier work that might divert any flooding that may come down."

The flooding in Oak City comes a year after two wildfires ravaged the surrounding landscape. One of those fires, dubbed the Devil's Den fire, killed a firefighter.

By the time the dark thunderclouds returned on Thursday afternoon, residents here had placed hay bales along the banks of a creek bed. Millard County Jail inmates were being used to help fill sandbags near the town cemetery.

The waters moved through the town's irrigation ditches, flooding streets, fields and yards.


Contributing: Rebecca Palmer

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com

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Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Morning News

Volunteers pile sandbags to contain flooding in Oak City, Millard County, a year after wildfires hit the surrounding area.

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