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SALT LAKE CITY -- Residents of these flood-prone areas dealt with overflowing waterways last summer -- and they know this year could be much worse.
A few rivers and reservoirs are already at capacity or spilling over. Others, it looks as though they are still quite low. But in a few weeks, experts say pretty much every river and stream will be full -- and flooding.
Flood Watch 2011
KSL's exclusive river flow tracker
Follow the flood potential and flood stage levels across Utah with KSL's exclusive river flow tracker.Davis Sauter, who lives along Big Cottonwood Creek, described the flooding at his condo last year.
"There was just so much stuff coming that it just got clogged up, so it was just filling up," he said. "It was like having our own little wading pool."
A personal swimming pool may sound nice, but not if it's in your parking lot, seeping into your home, in the middle of the night.
"It looked like almost raw sewage had come back into their units," he said of the murky water encroaching on neighbors. "We were just out there knee deep in the water trying to fill sandbags, trying to move them as quick as possible. We came in trying to get things off the ground because we weren't sure if it was going to come in."
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Residents in flood-prone areas warned to prepare
Salt Lake City and county leaders warned Monday that with a lot of snow in the mountains and high temperatures on the way, it's not a question of if flooding will occur, but where.Sauter and his neighbors are bracing for what could be an even worse flood season this year.
With historic snowpack levels and cool days ahead, experts say residents should prepare for flooding now.
Last year, Little Cottonwood Creek nearly swallowed Travis Cherrington's shed.
"We had to rebuild it all," he said.
Cherrington says this year, his family will be as ready as they can before this quiet, peaceful creek turns into the raging river he's seen it become before.
"It would go up a couple feet within an hour or two," he said.
Residents have already begun sandbagging along creeks, bracing for what could be a record-breaking flood year.
Officials say if you've left old sandbags in place from last year, you'll probably want to switch those out. They rot after a while and could be swept away.
Email: jstagg@ksl.com
