OREM, Utah — Days after an intense rainstorm flooded the city of Orem, cleanup woes continued for families who had water through their basements.
Fans of all shapes and sizes ran nonstop in the Redd family's basement. They're doing anything they can to dry out the downstairs from Tuesday's flood.
"The worst part was the glass and the hail and the debris, just trying to filter that out and try to pump out the water," said Whitney Redd.
The city is now calling it a "100-year flood event."
Redd remembers what it was initially like watching the weather come in.
"It was just like, 'Oh, this is fun. This is new.' Then it just started dumping, dumping, dumping, to the point where it looked like a river was coming down our driveway here," she said.
It was an instant scramble to move what they could to higher ground, but the rain was coming down too fast.
"[My husband is] like, 'It's coming down too quick. There's no way we're getting all this out. Get out of the room, get out of the room,'" she said.
Redd was recording the water leaking through her in-laws' basement window when suddenly a huge wave burst through.
"Surreal, just surreal, all that water coming in," recalled Redd. "We'd recently been to Niagara Falls and it was like that in our home."
She said there was about a foot-and-a-half to two feet of water. They had also just remodeled the basement from a sewage backup two months ago.
"Everyone is safe, it's just a house," said Redd. "It's really crappy but it's just a house."
Redd's sister created a GoFundMe to help the family cover the second round of remodeling this year. To donate, click here.
