Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Alex Cabrero ReportingYesterday's storms dumped four inches on the small town of Hanksville. That's a record. Also a record is how much was damaged. All at once a lot of people are saying they need a lot of help.
Clean up is slow in Hanksville today. A lot of people just don't know where to start.
Adding to the problem is Highway 24. It's closed due to erosion from the floodwaters. It is the main road to Capitol Reef National Park. Hanksville benefits from the tourism there, so as long as the road is out, that tourism money isn't coming in.
What everyone in town is more worried about is the money from its agricultural community. Hanksville's landscape was formed by moving water, millions of years ago. Yesterday, the water changed things again.
Bursting with water, the Fremont River destroyed a dam and ruined an irrigation canal used by farmers. The mayor, Stan Alvey, says "it's as devastating as anything."
Curtis Whipple: "This dam means everything to the agricultural community here. Without it, Hanksville's agriculture doesn't survive."
Curtis Whipple says the town needs the dam that used to be here. Late Friday, the Fremont River rose up from all the rain. The dam was no match to hold it.
"If we can't get it fixed, there just won't be no farming next year."
Farmers rely on water for irrigation, but you need the dam to control it.
Ed Bahr: "If there's no irrigation, there's no hay, there's no farming, and it's, and that's what supports Hanksville, pretty much.
Most of all, without this water and this dam, a lot of people in Hanksville are worried about their town surviving.
Curtis Whipple: "That means the farmers are done. You know, our community relies a lot on that. If we lose anymore people in our community, you know, this community can't survive."
Connie Foutz: "A lot of old timers are calling it the 100 year flood."
Connie Foutz is just happy the rain finally stopped.
Connie Foutz: "Mostly it's just cleanup efforts now. Yesterday we were just swimming. We didn't even know which way to go."
Last night workers at the Best Value Inn evacuated when they couldn't stop the water from getting into rooms.
"I'd say it's almost a foot deeper."
Today, the water is down but the hotel is out of business.
"All the carpet, all the furniture and everything is gone."
And there's a lot more damage in town than just the hotel.
"We're just hoping the state helps us all it can, because if not, you know, Hanksville will be a ghost town."
Hanksville is meeting with Wayne County representatives to figure out the best way to start asking the state, and even possibly FEMA, for some help. There are three projects they're concerned about: Number one, of course, is Highway 24; number two the dam; and lastly, the sewer system in town. That has been damaged too.
The good news in all this, there were no injuries or deaths reported. However, two families lost everything to the water.
Ten families evacuated from their homes in Layton last night are back home today. The homes are in the same area where wildfires burned a hillside this summer. There was concern the hillside might give way with all the rain. Today Valley View Road was re-opened to residential traffic.
Traffic is flowing in Big Cottonwood Canyon today as well. Last night, rock and storm debris from a flooded culvert made the canyon impassable. Bulldozers were called in to clear it.
(Associated Press Contributed to this Report.)
