Llama ranch among properties devastated by Beaver flooding

BEAVER — There's a lot to clean up, and Colton Brauer doesn't know where to begin.

"This is pretty extreme," Brauer told KSL, standing on the Beaver property, a llama ranch that his family has owned since 1982.

All around him, it's a muddy mess. Tree limbs and debris litter the property. Fences are destroyed. Part of a barn is collapsed. Another building is knocked off its foundation.

The property, located near the Beaver River, was right at the center of a large flash flood Sunday after heavy rain fell on the Cottonwood Fire burn scar.

"It's a little overwhelming right now," Brauer said on Monday. "We're still kind of taking it all in."

Up the road, water got into the basement of a house belonging to Opal Cripe-Reynolds and her husband. They evacuated on Sunday but were later allowed to return home.

"I have a lot of faith, and we prayed a lot. We just thought, we've done everything we could do to prepare. I don't know what else you could do," Cripe-Reynolds said. "We were just thankful that no one was injured, just really grateful, and this can all be fixed. Anything could be fixed there. But people's lives? No."

Beaver Mayor Matt Robinson said roughly 200 homes and properties were impacted by the flood. The city is also under an emergency water order as crews work to fix the culinary system that was damaged.

"We feel very blessed to be able to avoid serious injury or death," Robinson told KSL. "It was incredible, the amount of water that came out of the Beaver Canyon."

The American Red Cross has an emergency shelter at Beaver High School for anyone who needs any support.

Outside her home of 25 years, Carolyn Maycock surveyed the damage on Monday afternoon. Fortunately, no water or mud got inside the house.

But outside, it's a complete mess.

"It was pretty devastating for the whole area," Maycock said. "We've had bad storms and stuff, but this is definitely the worst."

She has sandbags set up against her home in case more flooding happens — since more rain is possible this week.

"I don't know whether we'll stick around or how long, especially if it does start raining," said Maycock.

Back at Brauer's place, all the llamas are OK. But now he's trying to assess the property damage and figure out where to go from here. It's a daunting task.

"I've never done anything like this," he said. "I don't know. It's a lot."

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