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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — A couple of yards in a Cottonwood Heights neighborhood flooded Wednesday morning due to a mistake by a truck driver at a nearby asphalt company.
Homeowner Corey Bridgewater woke to the sound of mud and water pouring down the rock wall in his yard. With no time to think, he rushed outside and began diverting the water.
"I had a coupe of shovels. I was scooping it around," he said.
The water flowing into Bridgewater's yard was coming from Morgan Asphalt, just east of Wasatch Boulevard at 6600 South. A truck driver had just filled a water truck but forgot to unhook the pipe before driving off.
Sgt. Gary Young of the Cottonwood Heights Police Department said it was a total accident. "(He) just accidentally left while still connected to the water supply pipe and caused about 10 minutes of flooding."
The water from the broken pipe filled an abandoned drain on Morgan Asphalt's property. The pipe runs under Wasatch Boulevard and ends above Bridgewater's backyard, which had just been landscaped.
"We just had some new trees, got new curbing," he said. "John was actually going to install new sod this morning."
Now Bridgewater's friend John is scraping mud instead of installing sod. "The sod actually helped us divert the water," he laughed.
Cottonwood Heights police estimate damage to Bridgewater's backyard at $50,000. Morgan Asphalt is working with him to pay for the damages.
"Hopefully they are going to get this taken care of a.s.a.p., because this is a mess," Bridgewater said.
Police say the city is working with Morgan Asphalt to block the pipe so water can't flow into it again.
