10 homes flooded in Brigham City, officials say


5 photos
Save Story

Show 1 more video

Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

BRIGHAM CITY — Linda Kay was at her home Thursday night when she heard a thumping sound coming from Box Elder Creek.

Believing it was a garbage can that had fallen into the creek, she asked her daughter to check it out. That's when she found water breaching a retaining wall between the creek and her home.

"By the time she came in and told me and I dialed the police, the water was already was on our patio and coming up the steps and going into the basement," she said. She described the water in her backyard as "knee deep" as of Thursday night.

Kay's home was one of 10 along the creek that flooded Thursday night into Friday morning after rain and melting snowpacks caused water to exceed the creek’s capacity, city officials said Friday.

Video from residents' homes showed water pouring from windows into basements.

"We've had a lot of water come down at Mantua Reservoir," said Brigham City spokesman Rick Bosworth. "It's overflooding the banks of the creek right now, and we're just responding as quickly as we can."

The flooding began as a storm system moved through the state. Warm winds, heavy rainfall and melting snowpack at Mantua Reservoir contributed to the flooding, Bosworth said.

10 homes along Box Elder Creek flooded Thursday night into Friday morning after rain and melting snowpacks caused water to exceed the creek’s capacity. (Photo: KSL TV)
10 homes along Box Elder Creek flooded Thursday night into Friday morning after rain and melting snowpacks caused water to exceed the creek’s capacity. (Photo: KSL TV)

About 15,000 sandbags have been distributed to high-risk areas and crews were clearing debris from structures, such as bridges, along the creek, he added.

The flooding is the worst Bosworth said he can recall in a little more than a decade despite measures the city takes in monitoring the creek and the reservoir to prevent flooding.

(Photo: KSL TV)
(Photo: KSL TV)

"Unfortunately with the way the weather turned today, it put us in a situation where we just couldn't keep up with the water that was coming down," he said. "We weren't expecting anything like this."

Kay said it wasn't the first time her home has flooded. While she hoped it would be easier to clean up this time around, she said she understands there will be a lot of work once the water subsides.

"It's going to be a big mess to clean up," she said. "It's bad."

Photos

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Carter Williams is an award-winning reporter who covers general news, outdoors, history and sports for KSL.com.

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast