MIDVALE, Utah — In 1983, snowmelt and runoff led to extreme flooding conditions in downtown Salt Lake City and around the state.
Now, 40 years later, community leaders from past and present are coming together to prepare for similar conditions this spring.
Jayel Kirby and her husband Michael spent two hours helping fill sandbags at the Flood Control Sandbag Shed at the Midvale Operations Public Works Yard on Friday.
"We're like, 'That is the same place that we met 40 years ago,'" Jayel said.
That was back during the flood in 1983, when the Kirbys were in high school.
"We met sandbagging here in this spot and we wanted to come back," Jayel said.
The Kirbys were nostalgic, all while trying to help the community.
"As the season goes on and it starts getting warmer, we get more storms, we'll start getting a lot more water coming down, a lot more than we've had in a while, so we're going need these," Michael said.
The Kirbys said they were able to load up about 200 sandbags.
About 60 volunteers, including people of all ages, like 3-year-old Henry, pitched in to fill sandbag after sandbag.
"We would like to get up above 15,000 sandbags in these next two days, and if we get up more than that, we'd be really happy to see," said Kade Moncur, the director of the Salt Lake County Flood Control Division.
This comes as Utah has dealt with extraordinary snowpack this season.
"We look at the snowpack in the mountains, we have concerns and we needed some help from the community," said Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson.
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Mayor Wilson also grabbed a shovel on Friday to fill sandbags.
She did so with the help of her father, Ted, who served as mayor of Salt Lake City during the flood of 1983.
"It really spooked me. We had done quite a bit of this stuff, we had sandbags, we had vehicles, we had a fire department organized to man and woman," Ted said. "What we didn't have was: 'How do you get the people there?'"
It was right before the Memorial Day holiday of that year, which the former mayor remembers vividly.
"I wound up calling, using my staff and myself, calling every religious leader in town," Ted said.
The runoff turned downtown Salt Lake into a river.
"It was Sunday morning and they came, 10,000 people came that morning," Ted said.
"It's a day the community came together," Mayor Wilson added.
With streams flowing quickly right now, Mayor Wilson is advising the community to be prepared, be aware, and act with more caution this year.
"It is critical that we're ahead of the game," she said.
Those who turned out to volunteer, like the Kirbys, are hoping to help.
"Get ready now, get everything prepared and then see what comes and hopefully what we've done will help out," Michael said.
The two-day event will continue Saturday, going from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Volunteers are asked to bring shovels and work gloves. Bottled water will be provided.
