Hang on for flooding in Utah

WEST JORDAN — With more snow or rain expected to come late Sunday into early next week, the good news is that Utah's water supply is beyond anyone's expectations.

The bad news is that water still has to come out of the mountains.

"For those of you praying for water, knock it off," Randy Julander chided Thursday during a meeting of the Utah Water Users Association.

It's been stressed before and it was stressed again at this monthly meeting that flooding is looming for many areas of the state, and Julander warned that mud and debris flows are probable.

"Staggering" is how the association's executive director Carly Burton described the numbers quantifying the amount of snow still left to melt in the state's watersheds.

A colder than normal April with precipitation 200 percent of normal did not only pause any snowmelt, but added to already overwhelming levels of snow in the mountains.

Julander said 2 feet of fresh powder was measured at Trial Lake above Kamas Valley on May 1 after the most recent storm. And overall, in northern Utah, that low-elevation snow is anywhere from 50 percent to 200 percent or even 300 percent more than what existed on the ground in the big flood year of 1983, Julander said.

"Hang on," he told the group of water managers crowded in the meeting room of the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District offices. "It is going to be a fun ride for the next six weeks and you are going to be lucky to hang on."

At the meeting, snowpack information, flooding hot spots and reservoir capacity details were released, including:

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and emergency managers are warning residents in Jensen, Randlett, east of Roosevelt, and Green River that flooding is imminent. A 7 p.m. meeting for residents is scheduled for May 12 at the Western Park Convention Center in Vernal. The Green River, infused with the rushing waters of Colorado's Yampa River, is expected to fill farm fields and damage homes. The Yampa is expected to be 6 to 10 feet above its peak levels.