Cleanup continues after weekend flooding in Tooele County; 1 rescue called a 'miracle'

STANSBURY PARK — You can still find a lot of puddles in Stansbury Park — but for Jeff Herrera, the water that is still outside isn't nearly as stressful as what was inside his house just a few days ago.

"Oh yeah. I had it up to here," he laughed while showing KSL-TV on his boots how high the water reached. "I had it up to here. When I got down to the sandbags, it was up to here in my rubber boots."

Herrera's home is one of nearly 30 in Tooele County that had some sort of water damage from the massive rainstorm that hit over the weekend.

He has been cleaning up ever since, trying to keep a sense of humor through the mess.

"I just barely went and redid my rain gutters," he said. "That's what I just got done doing. The pine needles got into the gutters, and the water couldn't go through with that much water all at once."

Like many longtime residents, Herrera said he's never seen rain like this.

Neither has Tooele City Public Works director Jamie Grandpre, who said the storm dumped more than 2.5 inches of rain in just a few hours in many places.

"We've had some rainstorms in the past few years that have given us quite a bit of moisture, but this one tops the cake. This was a big one," said Grandpre.

The heavy rain left several neighborhoods flooded, and county leaders are now asking residents to report any damage. If there's enough, Tooele County could qualify for state or even federal disaster funding.

"This could put the county in a place to apply for grants through the state or possibly the federal government," said Brittany Lopez, who is Tooele County's assistant manager. "That could help with any kind of remediation that would need to happen."

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Photos: Downpour hits northern Utah, flooding nearly 2 dozen homes in Salt Lake City

The Willow Place neighborhood in Salt Lake City was hit by flooding after a canal overflowed into people's backyards, but it was only part of the story on a wild weather day Saturday.

Fortunately, no one was hurt or killed.

However, one call came dangerously close.

Tooele Fire Deputy Chief Jed Colovich said crews rescued a 71-year-old man who was on hospice care after his basement filled with nearly 6 feet of water.

"They found him on his mattress, just kind of floating in the water," Colovich said. "It was a miracle, and our crews did a great job getting the water out, the electricity cut off, and getting in there to get him out."

For those still pumping water and drying out, that rescue is a reminder that things could have been much worse.

"With that much rain all at once, there's nowhere for that water to go," said Herrera. "We will be OK, and we will clean it all up."

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