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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's spring runoff has prompted a state of emergency declaration, caused evacuations and carried away two homes in a landslide.
State, county and city officials have continued to assure neighborhoods and residents about flood mitigation efforts. Salt Lake County said multiple divisions are assessing and activating flood control efforts to protect people and property. Sandbagging efforts are ongoing across the state and high-risk areas have been highlighted by the Salt Lake County Emergency Management team.
Areas along Red Butte, Emigration, City, Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood and Mill creeks are at the highest risk of spring runoff flooding caused by this year's record-breaking snowpack. It is not uncommon to find homeless encampments in some of these areas, which is a growing concern for homeless advocates.
Winter overflow options and expanded capacity at homeless resource centers have begun closing, with normal capacity levels set to resume on May 1. The number of people using shelters has started to decline, while camping is on the rise, according to city data.
"Over the next two and a half weeks or so, everybody that's been in overflow, which is about 600 people, will be displaced to the streets," said Wendy Garvin, executive director of Unsheltered Utah. "These are all clearly people who want to be in shelter, who have chosen shelter, and who are now being forcibly moved out onto the streets. And then at the same time, there's all this flooding risk that's going on."
Garvin pointed to Cottonwood Park as a high-risk area that is often utilized by the unsheltered population in the summer months.
"We've had floods before, right? They go up to your ankle or your leg, like your shin. But these floods that we're expecting are of a different nature. And so, I'm really afraid that in the middle of the night, people's tents are literally going to just get swept down the river," said Garvin.
Garvin said she raised these concerns in a Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness meeting where others echoed her request to extend winter overflow options amid flooding risks. The request was also made by Garvin to State Homelessness Coordinator Wayne Niederhauser in a series of texts which received no reply, she said.
A spokesperson with the Utah Office of Homelessness said Niederhauser did not speak with Garvin on the matter but offered the following statement:
"We support and applaud the efforts that cities and counties are making to keep Utahns safe. The Utah Office of Homeless Services is working statewide with Local Homeless Councils, providers, and other stakeholders on their emergency response to address potential flooding and how that may affect the unsheltered in their communities."
Salt Lake City Homeless Policy Director Andrew Johnston acknowledged the request had been made but that the request was specifically made to the Salt Lake City Valley Coalition to End Homelessness, which was later confirmed by the coalition's co-chair Robert Wesemann.
"We help implement some of that stuff but we don't make the decisions. We've been working with folks who have wanted to extend resources because we know that there is potentially some additional danger with the flooding, but we don't have any authority to provide any additional resources," said Wesemann.
And while the city has the ability to meet the request, Johnston says there's more to consider.
"The city, like we can do in wintertime, can issue an extension of the increased capacity but it doesn't mean that the providers have the staff or the money to do that. So kind of multiple factors involved in extending those beds," said Johnston.
The city is working to notify those staying in homeless encampments of the flooding risks, Johnston added.
"There's been a flyer and some signs made up to go out to the river, primarily the Jordan River waterways as well the creeks to notify in advance because there hasn't been flooding there yet but make people aware as much as possible that some of the low lying areas would be at risk for it in the coming weeks and months," said Johnston.
The city's homeless engagement response team keeps an updated map of locations where camping is occurring and sends resource teams to connect with those individuals. Currently there are no encampments that fall in high-risk areas, according to Johnston. The danger is subject to change with only about 2.9 inches of Utah's snowpack having melted since April 8 after it reached a record 30 inches, less than one-tenth of the total.
"As we see more critical areas come forward we can do more targeted interventions. I know that the (Homeless Response and Engagement Team) and the rapid intervention teams are all going to focus along the river corridors more in the next few weeks just mostly for this reason to make sure they have eyes on and talking to folks as much as possible," he continued.
