Community rebuilds Santa Clara market flooded by dam break


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SANTA CLARA — Gas stations are usually quick stops to fill up your car, fill up yourself, and get on the go again. But a gas station in Southern Utah means a lot more than that, and nine months after it was flooded by a dam break, it reopened with the help of the community.

Last September, a retention basin's dike broke, flooding part of Santa Clara. Officials said 3 ½ inches of rain that came down in a single day caused the dam, possibly weakened by rodent burrows, to break. About 30 homes were damaged when it broke. Most homeowners have recovered, and, with the help of the community, the Dutchman's Market has reopened.

The market's owners did not have insurance, extra money, or government assistance when mud flooded it, but the community helped them raise money and rebuild the gas station.

"It's hard to sue, because when you sue a city, you're suing the community, and we had the community come in, and it just didn't feel right," said Dutchman's Market owner Liisa Frei. "It's been a real united effort to make a little convenient store get back on its feet again."

Everything had to be taken out of the store: the wood, the glass doors and equipment included.

"When I was watching it happen, I just had no idea it would be so bad when we came in here," her husband and market co-owner, Nick Frei said.

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"We didn't have the money to buy new equipment. We didn't have the money to buy anything," she said.

But it turns out, Liisa and Nick Frei didn't need to have money. The community chipped in to make sure Dutchman's didn't disappear. Youth held a fundraiser and people donated labor.

"I don't know how to describe it. It was amazing to have so much support, not only labor wise, but also financial," Nick Frei said.

Even their competition from across the street reached out. They hired a Dutchman's employee so she had a job during the rebuild, and when Dutchman's reopened, she came back.

"It was the community who built this store," Liisa Frei said.

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