EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — With temperatures warming up, water from snow melt is coming down and crews are preparing for possible flooding in one Utah County community.
Officials with the Utah Department of Transportation say they're hoping for the best but preparing for the worst-case scenario in terms of flooding.
Looking up at all the snow in the hills above Eagle Mountain, UDOT engineers say it’s just a matter of time.
“It’s really a question of when the flooding will happen," explained Geoff Dupaix with UDOT. "Trying to have that manpower and equipment in place, so that we can be working together with the communities and try to mitigate the potential risk of flooding.”
Using heavy equipment along with old fashioned manpower, crews are doing everything they can to divert water from local roads, especially State Route 73.
“To help keep that road open because it’s the lifeline to Eagle Mountain as well as the Tooele Valley from the south side," Dupaix said. "So it’s really important that we keep this road open and accessible.”
Crews are cleaning out culverts and building new channels in Eagle Mountain to help divert water so it has someplace else to go rather than across the road.
"By capturing it, containing it and conveying it under the road, that makes it a lot safer for wildlife as well as for drivers,” explained Dupaix.
No one knows how bad conditions may get because there hasn’t been this much snowfall in roughly 40 years.
When compared to the last season with this much snow in 1983, the population of Eagle Mountain has exploded with hundreds of new homes and thousands of residents. Making it all the more critical officials are prepared.
“We want to make sure that our roads are safe and passable," Dupaix said, "regardless of the weather situation that drivers may encounter.”
He said that water is the worst enemy of the road, not only for the surface, but also due to the potential for erosion of the foundation underneath. Crews hope the mitigation efforts will pay off in the long run.
