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Logan's Flooding

Mon, 16 May 2011 15:28:00 GMT

AAA Restoration's wishing the victims of the weekend flooding in Logan the best of luck!

Floodwaters, backed up sewage hit 22 N. Utah homes

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:33:00 GMT

A combination of warm weather, snow melt and heavy rainfall triggered flooding that left nearly two dozen northern Utah homes awash in water, and in some cases raw sewage, by Thursday morning.

Weber County sheriff's Sgt. Scott Johnson summed up the overnight ordeal succinctly: "It's a mess."

But he added: "Everything's under control and now the cleanup and compiling damage reports get under way."

Johnson said floodwaters and backed up sewage hit 22 homes the hardest -- 12 Lakeside Condos units and 10 houses -- in the Eden and Wolf Creek areas. In some cases, residences were left with inches-thick carpets of muck, while others endured up to a foot of water pouring into their basements.

"Sewers backed up, the rain was heavy and there was excessive groundwater [from snow melt] to deal with," Johnson said.

The flooding was short-lived and not widespread, but it could happen again with heavy rains, said Brian McInerney, hydrologist with the National Weather Service.

"What this tells us," he said, "is that soils are saturated. "If we get rain, we could see more basement flooding."

Adding to the potential for flooding are low elevation snowpack and a wet weather pattern that is predicted to continue.

Areas in Weber and Morgan counties received 1.3 inches of rain in a six-hour period late Wednesday and early Thursday, McInerney said.

Along with law enforcement personnel and firefighters, Weber County's emergency response included jail officers and 20 work-release inmates. "They did everything that was needed, from sandbagging to shoveling," Johnson said.

In neighboring Morgan County, while two homes were reported to have flood damage, law officers were primarily busy with traffic control challenges brought on as rivers and creeks slopped over their banks. Morgan County Chief Deputy Sheriff Kevin Edwards said the worst of the flooding occurred along Morgan Valley Drive near the town of Peterson.

"We had water and debris all over the roadway. We'll be continuing with the cleanup through [Thursday]," he said.

The situation began to deteriorate rapidly after an inch or more of rain began to fall late Wednesday afternoon. The rain tapered off by 10 p.m.

The National Weather Service predicted more precipitation through Thursday, though it appeared Weber County would be spared.

A winter weather advisory was in effect through 4 p.m. for a swath of the state stretching from Salt Lake City in the north running south through Provo, Nephi and Richfield and southeast to Green River. Snow accumulations of up to 5 inches were forecast for the mountains.

-Christopher Smart contributed to this report

Floodwaters, backed up sewage hit 22 Utah homes

Japan disaster reminds businesses about insurance

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:31:00 GMT

It might be inconceivable to small-business owners that a disaster hundreds or thousands of miles away could shut them down. But the earthquake and tsunami in Japan have interrupted shipments of parts and finished goods to companies in the U.S., and sent many of them to call their insurance carriers.

These companies bought policies known as contingent business interruption insurance, or CBI. These policies will reimburse a company for its expenses and lost profits when it can't operate because a disaster has struck a supplier. It's a type of insurance that companies of all sizes can discover too late that they should have bought. One with foresight, ON Semiconductor Corp., said last week it was working with its insurers to recover losses because its supply chain had been disrupted by March 11 quake.

What is contingent business interruption insurance? - First, let's define business interruption insurance. It pays a company's expenses like rent and salaries when the business is shut down by a disaster such as a tornado or fire. Or when there's a power outage. It is usually part of a standard business owner's policy.

Contingent business interruption insurance kicks in when your supplier can't operate and therefore you can't operate. Even if your company hasn't suffered any damage, if you're unable to conduct business normally because of your vendor's problems, this kind of coverage will pay your expenses. The disaster could, like the Japan quake, be thousands of miles away or in another country.

Loretta Worters, a vice president at the Insurance Information Institute, says CBI often applies only in the case of a disruption from a direct supplier. If the company that is shut down is a vendor to another company that in turn supplies your business, you may not be reimbursed under your policy. When you buy the insurance, you need to be sure about when you can and cannot recover your losses.

Earthquakes, floods and more - Not every supply disruption is automatically covered when you buy CBI. Worters says that disruptions due to earthquakes and floods might not be covered unless a company buys CBI with that kind of coverage. That's not surprising, because companies that buy insurance for their property have to get separate policies for earthquake and flood damage. Worters says companies should check with their insurance brokers or carriers to see if their CBI includes such disasters.

Companies with suppliers in any earthquake-prone area like Japan or California should consider buying the additional coverage. Most business owners should also consider coverage for disruptions caused by flooding. Even companies that aren't in areas at risk for floods can find themselves shut down by rising waters. It only takes a few days of torrential rains to get a flood going. And a flood can shut a company down for weeks or months.

Worters says a shutdown due to nuclear contamination is not covered under CBI. So if a Japanese company can't operate because it has been contaminated by fallout from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant, its customers would not be reimbursed.

Pay attention to the details - Worters points out that CBI policies usually have what's known as a time deductible. That means an insurance company won't pay for losses for a set amount of time after a shutdown, such as 48 or 72 hours. So any losses your company suffers during that time, you'll have to absorb.

You might also need to specify your suppliers in your policy. Worters said that some insurers don't offer blanket worldwide coverage. That can be a problem if you sign up with a new supplier, but don't update your policy. So CBI can need more frequent attention than you might expect to give your insurance coverage.

Joyce Rosenberg writes about small business for The Associated Press.

Japan disaster reminds businesses about insurance

We're ready for flooding, Salt Lake County says

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:30:00 GMT

Midvale - If spring snowmelt leads to overflowing streams, Salt Lake County says it will be ready.

Standing beside the rock-reinforced banks of Little Cottonwood Creek, Mayor Peter Corroon announced Monday that Utah's most-populous county is prepared for flooding. It has spent more than $2 million on creek improvements, stockpiled 400 tons of rock for reinforcing stream banks and filled 5,000 sandbags and counting.

"We are hoping for the best," Corroon said, "and preparing for the worst."

Last summer, Little Cottonwood Creek surged over its banks, creating a muddy deluge that swamped homes, eroded backyards and forced a sandbagging effort that enlisted an estimated 1,500 volunteers. The cause: a cool spring followed by rapid warming.

It's too early to say whether the county's streams will be able to contain this year's spring runoff. The snowpack is unusually high -- higher than before the 1983 floods -- and the soil is so saturated that officials say it won't absorb much water. The big question is how fast the snow melts.

"The more gradually it warms up, the better shape we'll be in," said Scott Baird, director of county flood control and engineering.

Officials hope for several weeks of 70-degree temperatures beforesummer-like weather arrives.

Until then, the county is focusing on preparation through measures such as these:

- An estimated 5,000 sandbags are sitting on pallets and ready for distribution. Officials plan to have 5,000 more filled by month's end. They also have 100,000 empty bags on hand.

- An inventory of the county's heavy equipment -- such as backhoes and track hoes -- has been completed. Officials also have more than 60 trucks available for hauling.

- A countywide map of flooding "hot spots" has been prepared with information on what heavy equipment would be needed to control an overflow at each site

"We are engaged in being prepared for what may come," said Jeff Graviet, the county's emergency-services coordinator. "We can't control Mother Nature."

Federal funds continue to flow into the county to mend the damage caused by last year's Little Cottonwood Creek flood. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service awarded the county more than $2 million last fall to rebuild stream banks, stabilize slopes, fix flood-damaged properties and repair critical structures along the once-swollen stream.

The federal agency announced last week that it would give the county $1 million more to restore the waterway to its pre-flood condition.

County officials called on residents Monday to help keep the creek flowing during a potentially critical time by not dumping yard trimmings and tree branches into the channel. They also urge homeowners to apply for a free flood-control permit before doing any work along the bank to avoid engineering mishaps that could threaten the creek when waters rise.

Unified Fire Authority Chief Michael Jensen added this bit of optimism:

"Provided that it is a normal spring," he said, "the streambed should be fine."

jstettler@sltrib.com

We're ready for flooding, S.L. County says

Credit: By Jeremiah Stettler The Salt Lake Tribune

Waters retreat but spring flood season has only just begun

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:29:00 GMT

A levee along the Weber River broke Tuesday afternoon, putting several homes in danger of flooding.

Officials and community members were sandbagging to protect about seven homes in Plain City after the levee broke around 1 p.m., said Weber County sheriff's Lt. Mark Lowther.

"It's flooded so bad we can't actually get out there" to fix the levee or assess the size of the breach, Lowther said. "The water is moving up a hay field. It's just rolling across the field to the houses. They'll try to sandbag, but there's only so much you can do."

As flood concerns in Cache and Salt Lake counties receded Tuesday, Weber County residents remained on alert.

In Marriott-Slaterville, water had crept "right up to the back porches" of half a dozen homes on a hillside, Lowther said.

"There's a 4-foot-high fence post and you can barely see the top of the post it's so high," he said.

Elsewhere around the state, the sandbaggers won round one of a spring flooding thriller. But a Monday deluge that swelled some northern Utah waterways out of their banks is only the beginning of a flood season that could stretch into June.

The continued cold, wet weather is delaying the snowpack runoff, setting the stage for more flooding when temperatures do warm up.

Still, property owners along the Blacksmith Fork River in Cache County were expressing relief Tuesday as the weather broke and relatively cool temperatures slowed any lower elevation runoff.

But at the Maughan's summer cabin, about 2 1/2 miles up Blacksmith Fork Canyon, they know the coming spring runoff poses a big threat.

"Even though we dodged a bullet yesterday, I'm not going home until the sandbags are up all around the cabin," said Jan Maughan.

Heavy rains raised the Blacksmith Fork River by two feet Sunday and Monday, threatening a number of cabins in the narrow canyon and inundating a summer RV park. At the Maughan place, Amanda Scothern was busy Tuesday filling sandbags with Jeremy Davis and Simon McCarthy.

"The water is down now, but it's going to come back again," Scothern said. "I don't think we're through even a quarter of the runoff."

Since early March, Utah has received two storms a week, said Brian McInerney, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service. That doesn't bode well for late spring flooding due to high runoff.

"The bigger picture is that we are delaying our melt and compressing our runoff window," he said.

More rain is expected Wednesday and Thursday. But it shouldn't be enough to cause more flooding this week, McInerney said.

Neither rain nor runoff is welcome at the Riverside RV Park in Logan, said resident Doug Mallette. The park sits next to the Blacksmith Fork River near State Road 91 and 1700 South.

Flood waters rose about six inches in the park Monday but didn't damage any motor homes. Tuesday, about three inches remained on the grounds.

"My wife can't get into the pickup without waders," Mallette said. "Hopefully this will subside before the next storm."

Residents and property owners in Salt Lake County's Emigration Canyon were glad to see a break in the weather, too.

On Monday, Pam Crowther watched as Emigration Creek spilled over its banks and into her yard. "I was getting nervous," she said.

The water had receded more than a foot by Tuesday, but not before it caused minor flood damage to Crowther's guest home and caused a retaining wall that supported a footbridge to her home to sink.

County workers who were dredging culverts and bridges Tuesday removed the bridge, fearing it might fall into the creek, damming its waters.

Joe Smolka, a neighbor who Crowther had met the night before, and two other men went to work building a new bridge to the woman's home Tuesday afternoon.

Smolka, who heads up the canyon community's emergency preparedness efforts, said hundreds of volunteers filled sandbags and secured the creek's banks Sunday and Monday, as the storm began.

"I was standing on a bridge [Monday] and I walked off it so I could hear my phone," said Smolka. "I looked back and there was six inches of water on the bridge. It was pretty wild."

Still, Smolka said Monday's troubles were relatively minor in Emigration.

"Seventy-five, '83, '84, '89 are the years I consider floods," he said. "A lot of people on the news are saying it's the worst they've ever seen. I'm not there. I'm not there by a foot."

Venerable Ruth's Diner was open for business Tuesday after Monday's high water on Emigration Creek forced the place to close.

Owner Tracy Nelson said crews were cleaning up the lower patio area that was flooded. And she said they likely haven't seen the last of spring flooding.

"We're anticipating that it will come up again once the weather heat's up," she said of the creek.

Nonetheless, Nelson said the upper patios could be open by the weekend, weather permitting.

csmart@sltrib.com

Waters retreat but spring flood season has only just begun

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Credit: By Christopher Smart And Aaron Falk The Salt Lake Tribune

Salt Lake County sued over 2010 flood damage

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:28:00 GMT

When floodwaters surged down Little Cottonwood Creek last summer, Evan and Lisa Strassberg found their home in jeopardy.

With the stream bank washed away -- and erosion continuing along the southeast side of their property -- the Strassbergs feared their home might eventually slide. After trying unsuccessfully to enlist the county's help, the couple turned to a private contractor to shore up the bank with boulders.

Now the Strassbergs are suing Salt Lake County for damages up to $9,999. They say the county didn't properly maintain the urban waterway, according a lawsuit filed in 3rd District Court. The last dredging happened four years, court documents state.

"As a result of that negligence," the lawsuit alleges, "the creek was in a defective or dangerous condition."

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said he couldn't comment on the case because it is "pending litigation."

The lawsuit comes as the county prepares for a second soggy spring. With the ground saturated and snowpack levels higher than normal, county officials have been filling sandbags, readying equipment and mapping potential flood spots to guard against rising waters.

Spring runoff and heavy rains pushed several creeks in northern Utah over their banks this week. For instance, Ruth's Diner was forced to briefly close in Emigration Canyon when the nearby creek rose as high as 3 feet.

Little Cottonwood Creek remained within its banks, and the Strassbergs have seen no sign of flooding this spring. Evan Strassberg says he is holding his breath that the creek stays where it belongs -- in the channel.

The lawsuit involves damage done during the 2010 Little Cottonwood Creek flood, when a cold spring followed by a rapid warm-up turned the waterway into a muddy river that swamped homes, damaged businesses and left Murray Park under water.

The county has received more than $3 million in federal grants to restore the streambed to pre-flood conditions.

None of that money went to the Strassbergs, however. The couple wants what it considers "just compensation" for both flood damage and for privately owned boulders a county contractor "removed, moved and took" as part of stream bank reconstruction.

"One way or another," Evan Strassberg said, "we feel that we ought to be compensated for what we spent and what we had to do."

jstettler@sltrib.com Twitter: Stettler_Trib

Salt Lake County sued over 2010 flood damage

Credit: By Jeremiah Stettler The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah Flood Cleanup, Water Damage in Utah

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:36:00 GMT

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