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EAGLE MOUNTAIN — A Sunday afternoon thunderstorm dumped enough rain to flood the Kiowa Valley neighborhood in Eagle Mountain City. Residents there aren't strangers to rain, mud and flood waters. In July 2010 a pair of storms flooded more than 40 homes in the area, one of which was condemned.
This past Sunday, July 10, the intersection at Cherokee Drive and Chinook Street, the same that was under three feet of water last year, became heavily-flooded again. City leaders and residents met Aug. 18, 2010, to discuss the flooding. As a result, some "bicycle-friendly" storm drain covers were replaced with covers designed to allow more water into the drains.
"We believe that the storm drain system was never designed to handle the runoff from all the new development which occurred up the hill," said resident Jon Barclay. "This area will continue to flood unless changes are made to the storm drain to add the capacity needed to serve the much larger drainage area. Last year the city installed larger storm drain openings but has refused to conduct a study of the storm drain system."
In Barclay's opinion, the only thing that saved many of the homes from flooding was that the rain stopped.
Linda Peterson, the Public Information Director for the city, said in an email, "The City's public works department received only one report from a resident in Kiowa Valley. The resident stated that they experienced flooding again at the intersection of Cherokee Drive and Chinook; however, no water entered their basement as it did last year. When compared to last year's storm, where 40 homes had some degree of water in their basements, we feel the improvements that were made to the storm drain system are helping, and we continue to monitor the neighborhood during storm periods."
Though the city received few official reports of flooding this year, one resident in the City Center contacted ksl.com saying he pumped over 300 gallons of water from his basement, a cost not covered by insurance.
Flood water also carried debris down streets, specifically Pony Express Parkway. Peterson said the Public Works Department will clean the debris and work on preventative maintenance.
