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John Hollenhorst reportingMother Nature turned loose a dramatic onslaught on Utah this year, especially for those in the Southwestern part of the state.
It was the worst flooding in twenty years, and it was our Number One story of 2005. John Hollenhorst reminds us of a year when water became the enemy.
We began the year hoping the drought was over. By mid-January, many were praying for rain and snow to stop.
Scott Henigman/ Santa Clara: "I've been here 12 years and I've never seen anything like this."
The Santa Clara and Virgin Rivers fattened up into roaring monsters that began eating riverbanks.... and homes.
Jon Chapman/ General Contractor: "Gee, wow, there it went. That's a bummer."
Dozens of homes were destroyed in the St. George region, mostly without insurance.
Mervyn Bennion/ Home Destroyed: "I didn't find out we weren't covered until Tuesday night, and my house failed about 4 am on Wednesday."
Martin McNeese/ F.E.M.A.: "This is a terrible disaster."
It never got that bad again, But flooding remained a threat for months in much of Utah. Snow depth in places was simply astonishing.
Jerry Koller/ Duck Creek Realty: "It's been incredible. This is the heaviest, wettest snow I can remember, and I've been here 30 years."
As spring runoff started, creeks ran riot. Many communities had invested heavily in flood control preparations. And it paid off. Yes, there was more flooding.
Cathy Wardlow/Iron County/ May 24 2005: "Just because I'm the only house out here doesn't mean that it's not devastating to me. This is our whole life."
But spring flooding wasn't widespread thanks to a gradual snowmelt and the work of thousands of volunteers. Utah mostly dodged the second bullet, even as Southwestern Utah nursed its wounds from the first.
The last flood victim in this story-- Cathy Wardlow: Her home near Cedar City remains flooded to this day. A lake rose up and swallowed it, and it still hasn't gone away.
