OCR Text |
Show Two Women Have Close Call In Escalante Floods Two Escalante women narrowly missed being carried off in flood-waters flood-waters at the sawmill crossing of the Escalante River on Monday as thunderstorms brought serious flash flooding to the central Garfield County city of 900 people. "We're still shaken," said Brenda Smith after nearly being swept down the river. Brenda and her sister-in-law Kristal Smith were headed home after work at Utah Forest products which closed early to let their people leave because of potential floods. Brenda Smith had crossed the river that morning in her car through a few inches of water that had come from a storm the night before. At noon, she decided to play it safe she went home and traded her car for the family pickup just in case. When the mill closed early so that workers could safely cross the river, she started for home with Kristal as a passenger in the pickup. She got in line behind a logging truck and three other vehicles, all of which went safely through the rising waters without a problem, but a sudden surge of water killed the engine in the pickup and it refused to start. Suddenly a wall of water hit the truck, making it impossible to open the driver's door. Kristal Smith climbed out the passenger side, with Brenda Smith following, both stepping into the (See Close Call For Two Escalante Women On Page 4A) Close Call For Two Escalante Women C, D 1 rapidly rising waters. Those who had already successfully crossed over saw their danger and began forming a human chain, reaching out into the water towards them from the vehicles that had already crossed. There was still 10 feet to go, and as Kristal Smith reached out, the waters caught her and nearly swept her away before a firm hand grasped her brought to safety, with her taller sister-in-law close behind. The raging waters took the pickup and washed it a half-mile downstream. They found it later, filled with mud, a total loss. "It was the biggest flood I've seen in 20 years," said lifetime resident Norman Christensen whose farm lies along the river. While waters from the swollen river stayed out of his corrals and outbuildings the water still reached well up into bis haystack. None of his animals were hurt but Christensen said he "saw a Hereford cow go floating by." It was the rain in the surrounding surround-ing mountains that caused the flood. The rain in Escalante itself was welcome. The city was parched from a winter with little snow and a spring and summer with almost no rain. "It was a nice slow-moving storm that gave us welcome rain," said Christensen. Still the floodwaters in the Escalante River flowed two feet over the Alvey Wash bridge said Debbie Spencer who ranches along the river in the area. Garfield County Engineer Brian Bremner reported that flood damage occurred at the bridge at Wide Hollow Reservoir over which visitors to Escalante Petrified Forest State Park must pass. The retaining rock structures on the downstream side of the bridge were undercut by the fast-flowing current.. The potential for damage at the bridge, which is made up of two large, 14-feet-in-diameter culverts, was increased by the undercutting water. The county is assessing bringing in ripiap or pouring a concrete retaining wall to solve the problem. Additional flooding occurred in Main Canyon when logs and debris washed across the road at various places. By Tuesday it was cleaned and operational, Bremner said. Downstream, flooding also occurred at "The Cat" and at Twenty-mile and in Alvey Wash. "It was all relatively normal for the thunderstorm season," Bremner said. |