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Show ; . - ! .'.'' . . f , ,1 " ' it .' ...'..: PERSONS FILLING sandbags became a common sight as homes along Ashley Creek were threatened over the weekend. Uintah County supplies the sandbags tree ot charge ana placed the sand in strategic locations. Flooding Ashley Creek EinocExs ouv Basin power Hain at the end of last week pushed Ashley Creek beyond its limits, but cooler temperatures caused the creek to subside allowing time to prepare for the worst. The first threat of Ashley Creek jumping jum-ping its bank occurred early Friday morning last week when flood waters began cutting a channel around the bridge on U. S. 44 north of Vernal. State road crews and Vernal City Police monitored the creek as it reached reach-ed within 15 feet of the highway around the north side of the bridge. Earlier the creek undermined a cement shoot just before the bridge. Friday afternoon three large dump trucks, provided by Chevron Chemical from the Brush Creek phosphate mine, dumped nine loads of overburden on the bank to keep the creek in the main channel. Again early Saturday the creek theatened to carve a new channel at a bridge on 2500 West and 2000 North. Two homes near the creek were evacuated because of the threatened flood, but according to Commissioner Byron Merrell, there was little property proper-ty damage. "The homes were never really threatened, but were moved out of as a precaution." Saturday afternoon county crews worked on another newly formed channel, a fourth of a mile west of the 2500 West bridge. County crews diverted the new channel back into the creek to curtail any flooding. Cool temperatures Saturday and Sunday allowed time for the county to clear the stream bed and reinforce the bank as stream flows subsided. The high waters over the weekend helped prepare for deeper flooding, which is projected, said Commissioner Neil Domgaard. The high runoff widened the creek banks and cool weather allowed time to improve the banks. Also an extensive sandbagging effort ef-fort was undertaken Saturday and Sunday. Merrell said that the county initially had 5,000 sandbags on hand, but since recent flooding, has secured an additional 50,000. "We are strategically placing piles of sand on roads along the creek for people to use," Merrell said. About 100 people participated or came to watch the sandbagging. A section sec-tion of 2500 West was closed because many people who came to watch were getting in the way. County officials warn that last weekend's flooding of Ashley Creek isn't the end of the flooding potential. "Several days of warm weather, and it could be worse." Vernal City crews used the weekend Continued on page 4 i - . ' , -. ? ' ' I - v ,rfV,' l1 ASHLEY CREEK threatens to cut into U.S. 44 Friday morning mor-ning after taking out concrete shoot before the bridge. State Flood... Continued from page 1 to strengthen the banks of Ashley Creek north of Merkley's park to protect pro-tect a main waterline that parallels the creek. Public Works Director Kay Overson said there was no threat that the main waterline would be washed out. "We wanted to get it done so we wouldn't be called out in the middle of the night," he said. But there was some damage done by the raging river over the weekend. A power line tower carrying 138,000 volts of electricity collapsed Sunday night, and left the Uintah Basin without power for about 30 minutes, according to Utah Power and Light area director, Robert Thompson. i k - '"" VT" ;r - .vj i, : L-U - .i Ji - : - - &;tJ.rrr' , ... -. r TSKaKS&fcrt - " " ..... READY FOR the worst. Bags of sand array ar-ray home of 500 West just in case the nearby Ashley Creek should overflow its banks. ; BULLDOZER WORKS to keep Ashley Creek clear of rocks : and debris in an attempt to keep the creek within its banks. road crews are on hand to control the damages. The tower along the creek, at about 1500 South, was undermined by overflow from the creek, and eventually eventual-ly laid down, bringing its wires together and shorting out the entire Basin. The lines bring pow er from Flaming Gorge Dam to Jensen, then to the rest of the Basin. When the line w-ent down, power was rerouted through Carbon County, the Castle Gate substation and onto the Uintah Basin. The new route is a backup system into in-to the route no longer in service. Thompson said rerouting the power causes no problems, except it leaves the Basin without a backup system. Should something happen to the route now being used, the area would be in the dark. Thompson said UP&L crews began work Monday morning to repair the damaged tower and restore power to the lines, but the job is substantial and will take time. He said UP&L will do everything they can to keep the Basin in electrical service. Extreme spring runoff is also forcing forc-ing more than double the amount of water to be turned out from Flaming Gorge Dam. Flows from the dam base increased to 8200 cubic second feet (normal flow is 4000 csf) by the opening open-ing of two bypass outlets. Forest Service Ser-vice officials warn that because of the increased flow below the dam, rafters should be careful. The additional flows from Flaming Gorge and runoff from the Yampa River has flooded additional farmland in the Jensen area. Joe Haslem, long time resident along the Green River, said that it is the highest he has ever seen it. . .f - - . t. , ':- . i . l I C "f. ' ' i - . " ' ..-. -" I ' " " BYPASS VALVES remain open at Flaming Gorge Darr, Together with tributaries entering the Green Rive-downstream, Rive-downstream, this has caused the river to reach its higher point ever. |