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Price, Carbon County hit with flooding after heavy rain

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PRICE, Utah — Severe weather Friday night caused flooding in eastern Utah.

“A lot of people are just surprised because Price doesn’t usually flood as much as Helper does. So a lot of people are just like, 'Wow, that was pretty crazy,'” said Katelyn Olsen, manager at Club Mecca, a restaurant in Price.

The city looked a little different on Friday night, with heavy rains that led to flash flooding. Water was running down and across roads.

"There was a lot of like debris going down the road, like sticks and mud and all of that,” Olsen said. "We have really big garage doors in the front of our restaurant, and we had to hurry and shut them because it started raining right away and it was just flooding all down our sidewalks and coming up to our garage doors, and it was crazy.”

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Carbon County Emergency Management told FOX 13 News that the debris plugged some of the culverts, causing a lot of the flooding. A couple of families were displaced from their homes, and the American Red Cross stepped in to help.

"There were those that had suffered flooding in their homes and their basements, that made their homes where they couldn’t stay there. And in those moments, that’s where my team stands ready 24/7 to be able to send assistance,” said Benjamin Donner, executive director of the American Red Cross.

The floods also canceled a big softball tournament in town that was supposed to be played in Price over the weekend.

Price City Fire Chief David Johnson said Saturday that crews are still out working to deal with the aftermath of the storms.

"With the amount of rainfall, our drainage system apparently wasn’t able to keep up," he said. "And due to that, many homes were affected with mud and debris. The streets right now are still filled with quite a bit — that’s why you’re seeing Price City workers today trying to clean up.”