SALT LAKE CITY — Flash flooding caused widespread damage in several Wasatch canyons Thursday evening, leading some road workers to say they haven’t seen anything like it in decades.

U.S. Highway 6 (Utah/Wasatch/Carbon counties)

U.S. Highway 6 remained closed for most of Friday between the junction with U.S. Highway 89 near Thistle and Helper due to debris slides, but officials reopened the road about 6:15 p.m.

Little Cottonwood Canyon (Salt Lake County)

Utah Department of Transportation officials were working in Little Cottonwood Canyon on Friday morning to clear an “avalanche of debris," UDOT spokesman John Gleason said in a tweet.

Nine debris slides forced the closure of the canyon on Thursday night. The debris covered portions of the roadway over a 100-yard stretch and ranged from 1-2 feet deep in some areas to 15 feet deep at the deepest, according to UDOT roadway operations manager Jake Brown.

“Some of our folks that have worked in the canyon for 30 years say they have never seen anything like this,” Gleason said.

Some boulders that came down were as big as cars, he said.

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People in 35 cars were trapped between the mudslides in the canyon and were stranded Thursday evening. All those people were able to get out and were evacuated to Snowbird and Alta ski areas, Unified police said on Twitter.

They were then allowed to come down the canyon Friday morning. The canyon road was briefly open Friday morning to essential personnel, Alta town officials said on Twitter.

No injuries were reported, and no cars were damaged, Brown said. A draw above the road "completely emptied out," causing a huge rush of water to cascade over the road, he said.

“It’s unbelievable how much material was moved by water coming out,” Brown said.

UDOT engineers will need to examine the road before it can be reopened, Unified police said. Brown added that the road is safe for cars, but the amount of debris still on the road is means for the closure.

Summer activities at Snowbird resort are closed Friday due to the road closure.

Brown said crews will be working to clear the road and reopen the canyon by Friday evening or Saturday morning.

They are hoping to have it fully cleared for the Tour of Utah bike race, which starts this weekend and goes through the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, Brown said. For now, the Tour of Utah will go on as planned, he said.

Loafer and Payson canyons (Utah County)

In Utah County, Loafer Canyon southeast of Payson remained closed to non-residents as of Friday morning.

A storm system moved through Sanpete and Juab counties Thursday evening and then moved to southern Utah County, where it dumped rain over the burn scars from last summer’s Pole Creek and Bald Mountain wildfires, according to Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon.

Residents in the canyon were evacuated on Thursday evening, but were allowed to return later that night, Cannon said. People in Loafer Canyon must park vehicles in their driveways and not on the canyon road, he added.

A family with about 20 people were stranded in a cabin up Loafer Canyon on Thursday evening, but they were later evacuated, Cannon said. One or two dozen other homes were affected by the evacuation order, he added.

Crews also worked to clear debris in Payson Canyon near the Grotto and Maple Dell areas, Cannon said.

The Nebo Loop Road in Payson Canyon was closed until Friday afternoon, but reopened about 2:30 p.m., Cannon said.

Birdseye (Utah County)

The Birdseye area, along U.S. Highway 89 southeast of Spanish Fork, experienced mudslides and flooding again Thursday after seeing major flooding on July 26, Cannon said.

About a foot of mud and rock came down on the road near Birdseye, but alternating traffic was able to get through Thursday evening, and it did not appear to be a long-term problem, Cannon said.

"When you have a broad spread of problems like this it brings out a lot of people and uses up a lot of resources, so there’s a lot of people out working on this," Cannon said.

No injuries have been reported so far as a result of the flooding.

Contributing: Andrew Adams, Ray Boone and Derek Petersen, KSL TV; Kelli Pierce, KSL Newsradio

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