Morgan County crews clean up sandbags with plans for sand

MORGAN COUNTY, Utah — Crews on Tuesday were cleaning up sandbags untouched by flood waters as county workers have plans to repurpose the sand.

According to Morgan County Emergency Manager Austin Turner, waters had receded in uncontrolled streams to the point that sandbags could be removed at as many as 15 different sites.

“I tell you what, it is a huge relief,” Turner told KSL TV. “The potential to have some serious flooding was significant.”

Turner said the county saw flooding that covered roads, inundated farmer’s fields, and even impacted some houses, but nothing he characterized as “catastrophic.”

“Call it good luck. Call it a miracle. I don’t know what you want to call it,” he expressed. “I’m comfortable with a ‘miracle,’ but the weather worked out great for us.”

Temperatures in the county continued to be moderate on Tuesday, and the forecast called for more mild weather over the next ten days.

“Once we finally realized that the uncontrolled streams are going down and the reservoirs hadn’t quite started to spill, it got to be a really good feeling,” Turner said. “We had an unprecedented snowpack, and it melted out nice and easy.”

Turner said the work of removing the sandbags would likely take the next couple of weeks.

He said the sand was being transported to the Morgan County Fairgrounds, 750 Como Springs Rd., where it could either be used in the rodeo arena or repurposed for sand volleyball or other potential uses.

Turner said county crews weren’t necessarily looking forward to all the work ahead, but they took satisfaction in the fact they were well-prepared for what Mother Nature dealt this spring.

“It’s nice to be cleaning up knowing nothing catastrophic happened,” Turner said.

Related: Assume any flood water you see is contaminated, Utah officials say