SALT LAKE CITY — It has been a couple of days since a neighborhood in Salt Lake City started dealing with flooding from this historic snowpack — but it looks like crews and volunteers have been able to bring it under control. There is still work to be done to figure out exactly what happened and try to keep the area safe through this flooding season.
“I wanted to see how my park was doing because I knew that Emigration Creek was going to flood. And then I saw that in fact it had flooded,” said Rebecca Wallace, who said she likes coming to the area and knew she had to help. “So I called my husband up and we both started sandbagging with several hundred other people.”
This happened because of a partially blocked culvert and excess water from the snow melt. Crews have been working around the clock to direct the water.
“Right now, the pond is draining through the culvert. Since it’s not over top anymore, we are just pumping it to make it over top so we can de-water it faster than just having it do on its own, so we’re going to continue to pump water out of it just to accelerate the process, to make room for any future storm events or runoff, and see we can get down and assess the actual structure itself,” explained Jesse Stewart, the deputy director of Salt Lake City Public Utilities.
They are using sandbags and moving rocks — but they say they don’t need volunteers at that location anymore.
READ: Where you can volunteer to fill sandbags this weekend
“The goal is to keep it in this short bypass, it just crosses over. That’s why we are armoring that so we can continue to send flows there,” added Stewart.
Crews are also fencing the area around the flowing water as a safety measure.
“The fast-moving water can knock you off your feet," Stewart said.
Wallace says this isn’t her first major flood experience.
“I saw a flood like this way back... in '83," she said. "I lived in Salt Lake City, I was going to the University of Utah when we turned State Street into a river."
She is glad to do her part — for as long as this flooding season lasts.
“I’ve got the time now, so it’s awesome to be able to help," she said.
