Heavy rain causes flooding in parts of northern Utah

FARR WEST — Heavy rain caused flooding in northern Utah on Wednesday as some areas received several inches in just a few hours. In Farr West, more than two inches of rain fell quickly in the morning, according to the KSL Weather team, followed by more rain in the afternoon. All that water — along with runoff from other nearby communities — swamped the city's systems, said Farr West Mayor Ken Phippen. Some neighborhoods had several feet of standing water in the roads and near houses.“(The) stormwater system is working as designed,” Phippen told KSL TV. “It's just a little overwhelmed by the large amount of water that happened that we don't normally get.” Some kids grabbed kayaks and paddleboards and took advantage of the standing water as a chance to play. But for Kyle Browne, a general contractor who lives in Farr West, he used it as a chance to help. He showed up with specialized equipment to help pump the water out of neighborhoods. “I just happen to have a lot of big pumps,” Browne said. “(I) saw the neighborhood in need and came over here.”Browne’s pumps made a difference by bringing down the water level. He said the goal was to “just keep the water down far enough from the houses” as water neared them. A few blocks away, Randi Nelson and her daughter Mykahla took their dogs for a walk in the water that suddenly turned their home into lakefront property. “This is insane,” Nelson said. “We've never had water like this in 20 years.” She said she started calling the city Wednesday morning as rain pounded. “I think I called them 15 times and said our drain was full,” said Nelson, “and they said there's not much they can do.”The mayor said the city recently made improvements to its system, which helped prevent even more problems Wednesday. But, he added, officials will still take another look at everything to prepare for future storms. “Maybe we have to readjust, but we think we have the capacity we need, and we'll evaluate it as necessary,” Phippen said. KSL TV received reports of some homes that had water in them, but the city of Farr West did not have any official damage estimates as of Wednesday afternoon. Farr West offered free sandbags to residents on Wednesday, as did nearby Pleasant View, due to the flooding.

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