Forecast fuels new flooding fears

SOUTH JORDAN — More thunderstorms are predicted to move across Utah today, bringing new worries for more flooding.

People in the south end of the Salt Lake Valley are cleaning up from basement flooding, brought on by heavy rains that moved across the area Friday afternoon.

"It was just swishing down like a river of chocolate milk," Michelle Castillo said as she moved her possessions out of her home here.

About a dozen homes near 11800 South from 2700 West to 5600 West reported water in basements. Inside one home, muddy water rose several feet. Max Mulliner said the runoff came through the back yard of his relative's home, smashing out the basement windows and filling the home with mud and water.

"The water level in the basement is 5 or 6 feet deep," he said Friday. "The owners moved out just last week. They were getting ready to sell the home. They had just finished painting and were getting everything ready."

Flooding was also reported in Riverton, Herriman and Sandy.

In Wayne County, emergency dispatchers said some dirt roads were washed out because of flash flooding that hit the area of Capitol Reef National Park. No one was injured or reported missing.

A new round of destruction has hit an area of Utah already devastated by a wildfire five years ago.

Mud, rocks, trees and water came rushing down mountainsides that were torched by the East Fork fire, which was started by a group of Boy Scouts in 2002. Thunderstorms moving over the Uinta Mountains are causing the flooding.

"Some places we're getting just a little rain; some places we're not," said Earl O'Driscoll, with the Wasatch-Cache National Forest in Evanston, Wyo. "We're just getting heavy area over the East Fork fire."

The 2002 wildfire killed most of the trees, making the mountainsides vulnerable to flooding. Roads have been cleaned up twice now in the area surrounding the Scout camp. On Friday, the U.S. Forest Service said it had posted warnings in the area, urging campers to use caution and check with authorities to make sure it's safe to go in that portion of the Uinta Mountains.

In eastern Utah, the Forest Service ordered a resort ranch to close because of the threat of mudslides.

The U-Bar Ranch, the Wandin Campground and the Smokey Springs trailhead were ordered closed Friday because of mudslides from an unstable slope nearby.

"It's right there attached to that unstable slope," said Louis Haynes with the Ashley National Forest.