NORTHERN UTAH — Flooding problems are continuing to persist in multiple communities and cities and along riverbanks and farmlands through much of the northern end of the state — and high temperatures have water watchers anxiously weighing potential consequences over the next few days.

Weber County park flooded

Flooding at Fort Buenaventura Park in Ogden has caused a lot of damage over the past few days. "You can see some of the roads and trials are all broken up around here," said Ogden resident Roberta Hudson.

Sandbags surrounded restrooms Tuesday, and the river was still breaching some parts. However, water levels are actually way down.

"It's just shocking, absolutely shocking to me it happened this way," said Jim Carter, Weber County parks manager.

He showed how high the water was by pointing out the dirt line two feet up on a pole.

"About a week and a half it's gone down tremendously," Carter said. "It's opened up spots for us so we can open the campground this weekend."

Even with all the water still in the park, officials say they are definitely going to open this weekend. To be on the safe side, representatives from the Weber-Morgan Health Department were at the park Tuesday testing the water.

"We want to make sure there was no infiltration of the water system," said Frank Carlsen, environmental health specialist with the health department.

Wasatch County flooding

Even though water levels here are going down in Weber County, they're still going up in other parts of the state.

Wasatch County became the seventh county in Utah to declare an emergency, issuing its declaration on Tuesday after weeks of battling problems caused by overwhelmed culverts and swollen creeks.

Emergency services manager Kent Berg said several roads in Midway have been washed out and closed and a flood channel built in 1983 suffered extensive damage. A section of the channel that was compromised washed out and threatened closure of the Heber Valley Railroad, but sandbagging efforts allowed the railroad to continue its normal operations, Berg said.

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Flood Watch 2011 River Flow Tracker

Check the levels of creeks and rivers near you with KSL's exclusive Flood Watch 2011 River Flow Tracker.

A combination of failing culverts, damage to public buildings and roadways as well as creeks demanding constant monitoring led county officials to issue the emergency declaration.

Homes evacuated in Providence

Two homes in the Cache County city of Providence were evacuated as a precaution due to flooding concerns.

Rick Williams, the Cache County emergency manager, told KSL the water from Spring Creek has been extremely high since Monday.

"We've had crews on hand throughout the night helping Providence city monitor the sandbag levees," Williams said. "We've had a couple of breaches during the night but we've been able to get right on top of those with public works crews and other volunteers to keep the river pretty well within its banks."

Neighbors say the creek is usually close to dry but now resembles a river. Problems began when a culvert became plugged with rocks and debris. Some water from Spring Creek has been diverted down Center Street.

State monitoring Providence, other zones

Joe Dougherty, public information officer for the Utah Department of Emergency Management, says the state is keeping a close watch on the situation in Providence and the temperature gauge.

"We have a lot of high temperatures coming and, you know, we're not very happy with Mother Nature," Dougherty said on Utah's Morning News on KSL Newsradio. "There's not a lot we can do. We can't really complain to her. But we can be prepared and we can work really, really hard."

Dougherty said it's clear that hard work inspired by the flooding of 1983 has paid off, as the state has headed off much more disastrous flooding so far in 2011.

According to Dougherty, the best-case scenario would be that the warm weather this week melts just enough of the snowpack that it creates high flows but not flash flooding later.

The Department of Energy Management is ready to help in Cache County and Providence if needed and is keeping a running update on the flooding situation online.

Currently, the state's emergency operations center is at activation level 2, which is considered partial activation. It means the staff is handling the information flow, monitoring the situation and staying in touch with all of Utah's counties.

The two homes which were evacuated are not damaged.

Written with contributions from the DMC News Division.---

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