Flash flood in Riverton leaves a muddy mess, damages home
Jun 24, 2021, 9:06 PM
FILE: Rocks and mud left along 3600 West after Midas Creek overflowed on June 24, 2021. Forecasters say heavy storms mean the potential for more flash flooding, especially around the national parks. Photo: Paul Nelson, KSL NewsRadio
RIVERTON, Utah – People in Riverton have to clean up a muddy mess after a flash flood overflows a creek, sending water, rocks and other debris over the edges and into a neighborhood.
The quick-passing storm left so much water in areas like Herriman and Riverton, Herriman officials tweeted a video of a couch floating down Midas Creek. Herriman also announced they were under an “Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisory” because of the intense amount of water running down the dry creek.
Someone lost their couch due to flooding along Midas Creek! 😲 pic.twitter.com/VpsquUnFlO
— Herriman City (@HerrimanCity) June 24, 2021
However, the water overflowed at the bridge over 3600 West. One woman, who didn’t want to be named, said she has never seen the area flood like that before.
“I mean, in 2013, there was a flood but not this bad,” she says.
She was helping a friend that lives right next to the creek and 3600 West. That home reportedly had waist-deep water in the basement. Other people, like Tim Palmer, were clearing the mud from their friend’s yard. He says the storm was short but intense.
(Midas Creek after debris had been cleared. Photo: Paul Nelson)
Palmer says, “It’s just that everything that hit over the Oquirrhs got us good.”
Street sweepers came to clear out all the rocks that were left along the road, and Palmer believes the debris in the creek hadn’t been dealt with for a long time.
“All the debris through all the canals and breezeways that has not been cleaned out for years, I guess has taken its toll,” he says.
Riverton city officials were surprised to hear about the flash flood, and originally thought they were responding to a water main break. Police Sergeant Tony Wolfgramm says there was so much wood, rocks and junk in the creek bed, everything log-jammed at the 3600 West bridge.
“The water had nowhere else to go and the only way to go was over the top and the sides,” Wolfgramm says. “It went over the north side of the creek and the south side to the street.”
Luckily, people who live nearby had heavy equipment that was able to clear the logjam and send the water down the creek.
“There was a lot of cleanup. A lot of the farmers came with their machinery and cleaned it out,” he says.
