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KSL team coverage
A summer soaking brings mudslides at a Taylorsville apartment complex, floods basements, and caves in a roof at South Salt Lake business. That's just a taste of some of the damage after a powerful storm pounced on the Wasatch Front.
The west side took the brunt of the storm. At the Mulberry Park apartment complex in Taylorsville, located near Bangerter Highway and 5400 South, 24 units are still taped off. Unified Fire Authority says at least 50 people will have to spend the night elsewhere because a hillside is unstable.
A thunderstorm came pouring down around 3:00 this afternoon. The storm rolled so aggressively, a saturated hillside close to several apartments gave way. Robert Hacker, whose home was flooded, said, "It started raining, and my sisters and brothers told me look in the backyard, and I look back and the hill's gone."
Sgt. Rosie Rivera, Taylorsville Police Department, said, "It came down so fast the side of the mountain started to slide, water was just coming down like a river."
Luckily, no one injured, and the health department later determined it was just rain water, not raw sewage. But when Theo Harnage came home, he tells us, "I was kind of devastated, wondering, 'Is my family OK? Are my belongings OK? I'd like to get in there and see what's going on.'"
Others don't have it as good, especially residents close to that hillside that gave way. Until county engineers deem it safe, several residents will stay with the Red Cross or with friends
Leo Gonzales said, "We won't be able to go home tonight so I'm not sure what's gonna happen at this point. I'll just kind of wait and see what's happening."
Police told us earlier they don't think any of the apartments are actually flooded, but residents won't know until they look for themselves. And for some, the wait could be at least several days.
The storm left quite a mess for other people in the valley as well. In some parts of the valley people probably only noticed a few sprinkles while other areas just got hammered! The stormy conditions didn't last much longer than a few hours, but the clean-up will take days.
For those lucky enough to take cover, the window view looked far from July sunshine. West Jordan was hit hard with marble-size hail during the thunderstorm. KSL Newsradio's Paul Nelson, as well as several other KSL viewers, captured the hail storm on video and shared their video on KSLclips.
David Petroff, with McRae Sales, told us, "And I turned around, and it was like a wall of water, like a tidal wave coming out of the ceiling, hit the floor and just bounced up everywhere." Gallons of rain water broke through the roof of the South Salt Lake flooring business. Two employees were inside. Nobody was hurt, but damage to the carpet alone is more than half a million dollars.
With a little cleanup, though, employees there have high hopes to be open for business tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, on the west side of the valley, the rain was causing more problems, from flooded homes to a slippery commute.
In Kearns all plans were put on hold as people attempted to clean and protect their property. Kearns resident Gleb Gladwin said, "Rain is rain. It's just a part of life. I'm glad I was home to take care of it."
At Kearns Jr. High, Principal Kandi Barber said, "The water was coming down so much, it was coming through all the lights and the ceiling." Inches of water gathered in almost every room and hallway.
The school district responded quickly to clean up most of the mess, and, in the end, Barber said, "Oh, it could have been a lot worse."
By this evening, most of the flooding had subsided, and right now, it's a beautiful summer night.
E-mail: gkennedy@ksl.com
E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
E-mail: wjohnson@ksl.com
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