SALT LAKE CITY — Joggers and hikers visiting City Creek Canyon this week can expect to see multiple Salt Lake City public utilities crews spread out, clearing out debris that could easily clog and cause flooding.
The department’s watershed program manager said that the effort is usually the county’s job, but because they’re spread so thin with other flood prevention efforts, the city and other volunteers stepped in to help.
“As long as conditions allow, as long as we can get the debris out of here, we’ll be working,” said Patrick Nelson.
Using chainsaws, winches, and pure strength, crews woke up early to haul tree trunks and piles of sticks and branches out of the way. In order to do the job, conditions need to be just right. In fact, teams had to wrap up earlier than they would have liked to on Tuesday because of poor weather.
“We’re worried about the slipperiness of the creeks. We’re worried about the water. Yesterday we had a rainstorm and the water rose a little bit,” said Nelson.
If City Creek were to flood, water would overflow into Memory Grove Park and surrounding neighborhoods. Some homeowners already have sandbags ready, just in case.
“We just decided we should get these before it got too late,” said resident Catherine Seiler.
Seiler hiked up City Creek Canyon on Wednesday morning and watched the crews. She’s thankful for all the departments and divisions protecting her home.
“They were all working so hard. There were eight people in the creek pulling out dead logs,” she said.
Some of those in the canyon don’t even do this kind of work regularly. They are water samplers, normal employees, and volunteers with the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities and also Parks and Public Lands.
“When you came in the morning just to do your normal job, they looked exhausted. They’ve been working all night,” said Nelson. “The storm drain crews and the engineers and the people out running the track, those are kind of the unsung heroes.”
The department considered closing down the canyon to allow crews to block the road and work more efficiently. So far, there are no shutdowns.
