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ALPINE — The city of Alpine is expecting more storms after Saturday's downpour as city crews and residents work to prevent more disaster. Sunday morning the city sent out a call for volunteers; hundreds of people responded.
Volunteers were asked to gather at Creekside Park on Sunday. Fire officials say about a thousand people came to help out. Together, they filled 10,000 sandbags.
Alpine homeowner Teresa Cosper said teamwork made cleanup easier.
"People just hopped to it and got right to helping," Cosper said. "It's just been wonderful."
With the help of volunteers, Cosper cleared the mud from her driveway.
"We had mud everywhere. We had a large stream running back yesterday going to our sheds," Cosper said. "It was a mess."
Cosper lives on 300 North, which she says looked more like a river last night. The street is now is now lined with sandbags.
Further east, an additional group cleaned up a muddy mess outside another home.
Flooding drives Utah County evacuations
Residents of an Alpine neighborhood are being allowed back into their homes after floodwaters forced them to evacuate."Most of the morning, we've been going up the culverts and cleaning them out," Alpine resident Miles McCracken said.
McCracken said people from neighboring cities have been helping out as well.
"Neighbors I've never met before saying, ‘I'm from Cedar Hills, what can I do?'. It's great to have them come out," McCracken said.
Fire officials said in a small town like Alpine, volunteers make a difference.
"Our roads and water department consist of about 10 employees," Lone Peak Fire District Battalion Chief Joseph McRae said. "I think we've got one backhoe and a couple of dump trucks. Our resources are very limited."
Fire officials said it cost the city $45,000 to clear the debris basins and ditches from the last storm. Those same areas are full again. Officials said it's going to take more money and work to get them cleaned out again. They're hoping to get it done quickly, before the next round of storms hit.
