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Show SERIOUS DAMAGE IS THREATENING . THE SOUJHEAST Water Is Piling Up Behind Mountain Dell Dam in Parley' Canyon to a Point Near Overflow PEOPLE ARE URGED TO CLEAR DITCHES Situation Declared to Be Most Seriout the City Hat Ever Faced : Cooler Wea- ther Is the Only Hope Salt Lake Is facing tha most serious seri-ous flood situation In mom than fifteen fif-teen yeara according to H. K. Burton, Bur-ton, superintendent of waterworks, who estimated today that within forty-eight hours ths Parley canyon flow will have Inrreaoed nearly 60 pef cent, threatening- a congestion of storm sewers at Thirteenth South and Plate streets and meaning very likely the Inundation of that aertlon of the city. Further, should the present pres-ent thaw continue uninterrupted. It la almost certain that the residential section as far south and east aa I flugarhouso will be under water. Mr. Burton believes. In view of tho Impending Im-pending crlals. all waterworka employes em-ployes will be on the Job tomorrow, it was announced. City Commissioner T. T. Burton left for tho Mountain Dell reservoir early today when reports were sent In that water In tho big reservoir was rapidly rapid-ly rising to the spillway. Members of tho street department worked all night attempting to relievo yester-' yester-' day's congestion and arrange for the .HarMl.,., h.ll-V w . r . fMin tm I - gratlon and Red Rutts canyons. This morning they reported tho situation considerably improved and believed the worst of the present flood waa over. About tho same time reports from Mountain Dell Indicated that the huge dam there would bo able to check tha flood only a few hours longer. . - -- -- --. STEADILY RISING. In the paat seven days the water In the reservoir haa been steadily rising at the rate of four and one-half one-half feet daily. The actual rlao during dur-ing tho paat twenty-four hours la a fraction over that average. The aur-faco aur-faco area Increases aa the higher levela are reached, and thla means that probably more water was backed up In tho reservoir yesterday than on any previous day of the period. y Because of the heavy anowa In the mountains this winter. Mr. Burton expects aa tho thaw contlnuea to aee a dally Increase In the actual volume until the peak la reached In about ten days. At that time, from the present situation. situ-ation. Mr. Hurton flgurea that the record high flow of 100 second-feet down Parley'a canyon will be smashed and aa a consequence he fears that unleaa tho atorm sewers and ditches are kept free of debris a large portion por-tion of tho southeastern residential section will be In danger of aerlous damage. ' Cltlxena and householders can help the department In thla respect by aee- Ing that the dltchea In front of their nomes are irevu wi wu u. ,.wi. j available man In the two municipal departmenta of atreeta and waterworka will be kept busy tending to the storm ewers fed by the ditches and gutters. gut-ters. THE PPREVENTIVE. "Only a lower temperature lo check the thaw can save thla city from a aerlous menace now. And tho only way In which to prevent thia possibility possibil-ity from again arising Is to complete the Mountain Dell dam up to the level originally contemplated," Mr. Burton said. He explained that In prevloua yeara the altuation had; not been ao alarming alarm-ing aa at present because Parley'a Is usually two weeks later than Emigration Emigra-tion or Red Butte. Heretofore the two last named streams have been handled han-dled and then fho atorm sewers have been cleared for the Parley's flood. Thla year, however, all three atreama i are flooding together. The conduits e converge at Thirteenth South and State atreets. With Red Butte and Kmigratton now running close to rapacity, ra-pacity, the flooding of Parley's will a back the water up along the line and no one can Judge aa to what may result. re-sult. Mr. Burton insists. One week ago the water In the Mountain Dell reservoir was at twenty- one feet above tho lower gatea with a total of 22.600.000 gallona behind the dam. In the paat seven daye It haa rapidly been rialng until at noon today the gauge ahowed a fifty-three-foot level with 219.S86.000 gallons held In check. The spillway la fifty-eight feet from tho bottom. That la. Just flvs feet, or twenty-four hours' flow at the present rate, la necessary to have the heavy floods run over the dam spillway and down upon the city. Total capacity of- the reservoir at present la 100.000.000 gallona. With the forty feet additional lift to the dam, the atorage capacity woulo be 1.000,-000.000 1.000,-000.000 gallona and that would In an emergency euch aa now exlata permit of the city holding back an early flood In Parley' until after the condulta wero free from the Emigration and Red Butte thawa. Within two weeka the two northern atreama will be out of the way. They will reach peak late next week. With Parley'a threatening a peak load at the aame time, the altuation alt-uation Is .described aa alarming. WILL REACH SPILLWAY. , Present flow down Parley's is about sixty million gallona dally or at th Continued en page ) SERIOUSDAMAGE - (Continued from paga l.) rata of 142 oacond feet. Add to this another thirty million ifallona dally and the total runa to laat year'a high water for Parley'a and pot considering tha millions of other gallons clogging the conduits from other streams. Bund ay or Monday morning tha water will have reached the spillway and start over. A few hour later, tha water, racing acmes the reservoir to tha big vent, will be tumbling down In a at ream thirty feet wide and several feet deep. And the outleta of tha city are not sufficient. Mayor C. Clarence Neslen. head of the water department, explained that all of tha reservoir gates had been wide oftftx for several weeks In order to care for the flool. Objections have been rained by fishermen that this would spoil fishing in the stream, but on Mr. Hurton's advice the mayor stood firm in anticipation of some such crisis li has developed. The reservoir was practically empty when the thaw com-' menced. IVspite these outlets, the water ha risen rapidly and with the Parley water wa-ter pouring down over the big spillway and that stream converging with the Ked Butte and immigration at Stat and Thirteenth South, those familiar with the local conditions can see no way out cf a serious proerty damage. Only a sudden tightening of the weather, weath-er, a cold snap to hold back Parley's fur another two weeks, can save a large part of the residential district from Inundation, it is believed. In view of these facts, the city officials offi-cials issued a warning, asking all to help by keeping ditches unobstructed, thus allowing the water to run off as quickly as possible. |