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DRAPER - Following a week of intense storms and flooding, Draper residents had to deal with a whole bunch of mud Saturday.
Heavy rains hit just after 4 p.m. The storm brought down mud, rocks and water in the Corner Canyon area of Draper.
Resident Troy Olson said, "It's raining, and we're trying to direct the water. That's about all you can do right now. It's gonna go wherever it's going to go."
A short time later, a flash-flood warning was issued and stayed in effect for a couple of hours.
Luckily, two homes that were hit the hardest with mud and debris in Wednesday's storm escaped without any damage this time. Steve Scheid of the U.S. Forest Service said, "They diverted the water around their houses so they were able to keep the water out."
Crews spent the last two days reinforcing and cleaning out sediment fence on the hillside that are designed to catch mud and debris. "We can't stop it. We can minimize the flows. We've caught a lot of sediment. It slows the water down," Scheid said.
Those fences were all full again after Saturday's rain storm. They need time to drain slowly and dry out.
"It be nice for it to warm up. Ninety degrees sounds great about now. So hopefully that's just around the corner," Olson said.
Dry weather is the best bet for preventing more mudslides because authorities say it could take two to three years to naturally repair what happened to the hillside in last year's fire.
"A lot of what can be done has been done. We've done a lot of reseeding. We put these devices in and we've got some create regeneration up there," Scheid said.
The trails in the area will remain closed until the Forest Service can remove debris.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
