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Show AsCuDey Ctreelk ffDoods tomes Son wall ley Flows subside after sandbagging weekend A record breaking amount of spring runoff over the weekend pushed ishlev Creek beyond its banks and flooded about 50 homes, but Tuesday the creek subsided giving hundreds of sandbaggers a breather. The majority of residential flooding occurred Sunday and Monday along 1500 North between 1500 West and 2000 West. The culprit of the flooding along 1500 North was a low spot on the banks of .Ashley Creek upstream from the Kiwanis Park. Rocks that roll down the creek during dur-ing spring runoff make the center of the creek higher than the bank, causing caus-ing most of the 1500 North problem. Flooding of the area is a yearly occurrence, occur-rence, but this year it was severe. Monday morning nearly a third of the flow in Ashley Creek raged down a new channel, south of the original creek and swamped ten homes along 1500 North before it crossed the road I at 1500 West. "Sunday we thought the flooding couldn't get worse, but Monday it did," said Shirley Burns, 1500 North resident. Community response to a plea for sandbaggers in the area was "fan tastic." Mrs. Bums said, as many people peo-ple sandbagged from 4 2.m. to late Monday. Some closed their businesses to go help. Hundreds of others sandbagged sand-bagged when they could. After crossing 1500 West, the new-creek new-creek channel flowed along the Sieinaker Canal southward flooding fields and approaching homes along 0 West. By 2 a.m. most houses along 3X1 North were sandbagged, but not :'ore many basements flooded and I cevtood piles, wagons and barrels sere swept away with the flooding. Later Monday afternoon flooding along 1500 North subsided as Uintah Coffity Commissioner Neal Domgaard climbed on a cat and channeled the overflow back into the stream. "For two days I asked why a cat couldn't get in there," Domgaard said. "They said it was impossible to get a cat in because of a swamp." Monday afternoon Domgaar worked work-ed a county cat around the sw amp and was able to divert the flooding channel chan-nel back into the main creek. "I only feel sorry we didn't do it earlier to save some of the sandbagging," sandbagg-ing," Domgaard said. Monday flows down Ashley Creek were compounded by headgate work on the Ashley Upper Canal washing out forcing that water back into Ashley Creek. Spurred by additional new channels carved by the overflowing creek, 500 West 800 North, North Vernal Avenue at 775 North, and 500 East 500 North were crossed by the creek. Traffic along all streets where the creek crossed cross-ed was restricted and on North Vernal Avenue a 10 mph speed limit was enforced. en-forced. On 2500 West a new channel in the creek flooded a house along the street at 1800 and took out a w aterline. On 500 East, near where the road was already washed out, a trailer was completely inundated and other homes were threatened by a new channel which washed across the road. Neal Domgaard said total damage of the flooding was being estimated by county engineers and is said to be around $3 million, mostly to private property. Record Flow Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey reported record flows on Dry Fork and lower Ashley Creek. Tuesday Tues-day Don Batty, U.S. Geological Survey, said Sunday the flow in Ashley Creek was measured where it crosses U-44, at 2,750 cubic feet per second (cfs) The highest flow ever measured at the spot is 2,790 cfs. Tuesday's measurement of Ashley Creek was Continued on page 4 r ' . , ! i ! " ' i . ' ' t , f ' I 1 V i ' 'v -- - i ' v " - J ': , i . - v, i - - j ' . - ' . . i ! t 1 ; t " i RALPH BURNS and two other sandbaggers move sopped line of sandbags from backyard of a home on 1500 West to form a new line of bags further out. Although wet and sloppy work, Ph&o by S.-een WcO the new line of sandbags held and cleared the backyard of water coming from Ashley Creek. r - , , . , . , i j-' . v " V t .. . . . " .,, - ' . ...... ! ' ' "'-: ";" '""V. . i ... ... . . , -1 . '? ..;.:r.'v ' ,;-""! ' .'-J"V. ,..' . 1 - -, , ', i ' ' " - - ..-... . . .-5 .. . . ..--I .- . - , i T w' ' ' " J "' -L '' ' ' : . " r . v. ' .v- I vv - g. , - r , r 't - - , :' . - ' r ... : ' v.' ; - - : .. N .. - x . - . . r , I v. - t - ,.'-.;" , - " - THE WORST flooding occurred Monday morning along 1500 North, near 1500 West. The road leading into Kiwanis Park became a river, and another stream formed along 1500 North Street. Fields east of 1500 West were turned into ponds until the water was contained back in the Ashley Creek channel. Tr. ........ t , L L -::.::;.:- ;: ; : . : - .- - . .-; 1 ! -' ' r! I I f - t ' ' r," - v i. ' .: 1 .. . f '' ' "" ' . '. ' ! "i . ' ' .i "... i r ' ' I' ' : : . - -' " - ; 1 v .-.-,-.''.. .,' '-. . ' - i-. , ' i ' ' V ' , - " '- ... ', ","' RESIDENT ON 2500 West looks on in disgust as floodwater from a new channel Flood... Continued from page 1 3,010 cfs and based on estimation, flows in Ashley Creek were between 3,400 and 3,500 cfs Monday night. Batty said he didn't think that Ashley Creek had peaked and that more runoff is predicted. During the bulk of the flooding Sunday, flows in Ashley Canyon were measured at 1.800 cfs, about half of peak flows in the canyon, but the Dry Fork, which joins Ashley Creek near Merkley Park, was at an all-time high of 3,500 cfs. The highest flow ever recorded on Dry Fork, which is dry during the fall, was 1,210. Officals say that the Uintah River, Rock Creek and Yellowstone in western Uintah County have all peaked. peak-ed. Stoinaker Tuesday morning water from Steinaker was being drained to provide pro-vide irrigators with water in the I I of Ashley Creek floods her and her neighbors Monday. southeastern part of the valley. About 300 cfs of water is being diverted into Steinaker during peak flows at night, said L.Y. Siddoway, Uintah Water Conservancy District. Siddoway said that crews are working work-ing daily to keep the Steinaker diversion diver-sion from Ashley Creek free of debris. Green River On the east side of Uintah County, ranchers along the Green River have fields flooded with water and several trailers have been evacuated. Mrs. Jack Ruppe, on the west bank of the river reported 50 acres under water. Increased flows on the Green River have been contributed to increased releases from Flaming Gorge Reservoir Reser-voir and the Yampa River. To allow more storage in Flaming Gorge Reservoir, water which has been flowing through two bypass outlets at the base of the dam were shut off and water was put down the spillway for the first time since li)7fi. The same amount of water is being i i released, 8,250 cfs, but by raising the spillway gates on the north side of the dam and letting the water escape underneath the spillway an additional 150,000 acre feet of water can be stored, said Kathy Loveless, Bureau of Reclamation. By opening the spillway gates the water in the reservoir can rise 34 more feet. "We are taking a chance by opening the spillway, (because of damages yet to be repaired) but it was decided to take that chance," Mrs. Loveless said. Although the water coming from the spillway could damage the road to the boat ramp used by rafters below the dam, the road is still open, reported Forest Service officials. Should the road be closed, rafters can still gain access ac-cess to the river from the parking lot on the main road, one-third mile away. Dry Fork In Dry Fork Canyon, flooding is threatening several homes and a trailer was evacuated Monday night. "At one time the main stream of the creek was two feet from our basement," base-ment," said Susie Ilodgkinson, Dry Fork resident. About 125 people have been sandbagging sand-bagging homes in the Dry Fork area. Two saiulbaggcrs have fallen in, but were saved. "I can't believe the number of people peo-ple who show up to help," said Mrs. Ilodgkinson. Threat from the creek is changing daily as the creek chooses a different channel. The main threat is at night i w ir A : '.V ' r it , - ; ., ,-v. - - -' ' " ' : - '- : : V 1 v . , ' , - ji:..., .N'v,j;- kj ' j v - i , .,..-., " ' ' -' - . ' " ' ,-."tr r.. --, " v .' - -;r X..- J : '.y - , . ' . t - v - V V A RESIDENT along 1500 North tries to remove debris ; lecting against a fence to allow flood waters to flow away fr houses. r , ' - - '- ; , ; v , .... j t , A r -.'vipy:- ,- ! : '. UP ON THE ROOF with all the furniture and door left wide open as residents of r when it "sounds like thunder and trees shoot down it like arrows," Mrs. Ilodgkinson said. "Hut you've got to stay and fight for your house." this cabin along the Uinta River and Highway 40 were evacuated. |