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GARDEN CITY, Rich County — City leaders near Bear Lake are calling on volunteers to keep an eye on rising floodwaters. They want them to sound the alarm before things get bad.
Waterways tend to peak each day between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The volunteers would be part of a community emergency response team. Their work is intended to get responders out to the flooding fast.
"It's a way that I can give back to the community," volunteer Samantha Coontz said. "It has been surprising because you see it during the day and it's not rainy and it's sunny and beautiful, so you don't expect that rush of water that is going to make it down the hill at about 5, 6 o'clock at night."
She's a part of Bear Lake Responds. It's a volunteer group that is keeping an eye on a half-dozen areas like this during the evening hours. Right now they're short on filling several of those shifts.
"When our first responders are overwhelmed, or for like a long-term event like this, they're asked to just come out and help," said Joey Stocking, the Garden City liaison for Bear Lake Responds.
In this case, he said they're helping take some of the burden from public works crews.
"Between snow removal and then the upcoming season, they've been inundated trying to keep us all up and running," Coontz said.
They're also redirecting some of the water.
Stocking said, "In Garden City, we have two big canals that kind of run through it, but they're really canals, they're not supposed to be big drainage ditches that, you know, take on all this water."
Volunteers will need training to get going.
"Came with CPR and first aid training, trauma-informed care, and trauma psychology," she added.
They're useful skills Coontz said and worth the time to be able to serve her neighbors.
"Putting the unity in community, you know? Everybody gets together to help each other out."
You can sign up to become a volunteer here.
Sign up under "Medical Reserve Corps" and then "Bear Lake Responds".
