Salt Lake County gears up for potential flooding

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SALT LAKE CITY — Heavy equipment is steadily gobbling up great mounds of mud from the Jordan River, dumping it along the banks as county workers clear the waterway to make room for high runoff.

It is just one of many steps that has been taken over the past several weeks as Salt Lake County gears up for potential flooding.

Debris has been cleared from Big and Little Cottonwood creeks, large angular rocks have been placed in strategic locations to buffer high water and sandbags are being stockpiled.

"Our creeks are going to rise at a tremendous rate," said Patrick Leary, director of Salt Lake County Public Works. At the same time they rise because of the inevitable warmer temperatures, the strength and speed of the rushing water will increase and it will be deadly cold, Leary warned.

"The waters will be dangerous," Leary said at a news conference Thursday with the muddy waters of the Jordan River as his backdrop. "We're urging people to do everything they can to keep families, children and their pets safe."

Scott Baird, director of Salt Lake County Flood Control and Engineering, said the agency has been able to use the time granted by the delayed runoff to check for "choke" points along the waterways, or places where debris is likely to dam the water and create flooding.

Salt Lake County flood info

Salt Lake County has also several sandbag pickup locations. They are:

Midvale Public Works department, 620 W. 6960 South, Midvale
Millcreek Home Depot, 3398 S. Highland Drive
Fort Union Home Depot, 1310 E. Park Centre Drive
Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, 1530 S. West Temple.

More flood-related information is available at www.slcoem.org.

The county, too, is in constant contact with Salt Lake City for the monitoring of City Creek, which has a debris basin installed up the canyon to help keep the North Temple culvert clear of potential clogs.

With that said, Baird said the county can't stress enough the need for cities to ensure back-flow valves are installed when municipal storm drains are put in. The absence of those valves is what can create rain-driven flooding events like what occurred over the weekend in west-side communities.

Baird said he believes infrastructure improvements made since 1983 — when much of the Salt Lake Valley was overtaken by floods — will help mitigate the impacts of the high runoff. Flooding will likely still happen — with businesses and homes along the Jordan River vulnerable — and any property owners along valley creeks or streams should take proper precautions, he said.

Flood-related information is available at www.slcoem.org, which also includes an emergency number people can call to report flooding problems or accumulation of debris that could lead to flooding.

Email:aodonoghue@ksl.com