By KRISTEN SONNE
As the weather warms and the snow melts, the flowers bloom and sandbags pile up by the thousands.
Such is the case this spring in Lindon because of the possibility of flooding.
The snow depth from this winter is one reason flooding could occur in Lindon this spring, said Lindsey Bayless, Lindon City Council member.
'We have talked about this for a couple of months because of the amount of moisture and the saturation,' she said.
Sgt. Dave Bennett, of the Utah County Emergency Response Team, said the current weather is helping to lessen the snow pack, but there could be another big snow.
The city is also concerned about flooding from developing areas being hit by heavy rains.
'We have a lot of problems around the WordPerfect area in Orem and around the Murdock canal because of the number of homes that are being built,' said Jared Hansen, civil engineer for the Utah County Weather Service. 'Anything that is impervious, such as roofs, driveways, homes and roads will cause the water to just run off these areas where the water used to absorb.'
Bennett said that when you build homes in wetlands you restrict the natural flow of water, which creates a problem when there are high water amounts.
'The issue is the rain,' Hansen said. 'We can control and get ready for snow, but we are in a real mess when the rain comes.'
The Murdock Canal, which runs from the mouth of Provo Canyon to the Point of the Mountain, is used for irrigation. The amount of water in the canal is determined by the needs of those who use the water in it.
The canal is full in May and June, when the possibility of flooding is the greatest, Hansen said. The canal blocks the ravines and other natural areas, where the water from the mountains would normally run, Hansen said.
'There is the possibility that the canal will fail, like it did in 1988, and flooding will occur,' he said.
One way to deal with the dilemma is to build basins that can fill up with water.
'We are going to build a huge retention basin to catch a lot of runoff from American Fork Canyon,' said Rusty Martin, assistant project manager for Kenny Seng Construction Company.
'Then they will pipe this water out. I think it is a really good idea to try to prevent flooding problems like this because they have had a lot of problems in the past,' Martin said.
American Fork Canyon is in Highland, between American Fork and Alpine.
Martin said basins, like the one being built in American Fork Canyon, are necessary as natural runoff areas are destroyed.
Dry Canyon in Lindon is another flood concern.
Dry Canyon, as the name suggests, is not a normal water flow area, said Richard Draper, Lindon City Council member.
Dry Canyon pulls water from the face of the foothills of Mt. Timpanogos, which is Lindon's main area of concern, Draper said.
Lindon residents are placing sandbags around their homes and city to prepare to wash away the water.
'With proper sandbagging we can quite adequately handle our major source of concern,' Draper said. 'We have the sand available and any citizen that has a concern can begin to sandbag. We also have our own emergency response team, so if there is a problem we can respond very, very quickly.'
About 50,000 sandbags reside in the city of Lindon at three various geographical areas available to citizens at any time, he said.
Bayless said it is unusual to order 50,000 sandbags.
'We do not anticipate a problem. We are being very cautious, but not overly concerned,' Draper said. 'We are being careful because we do feel there is a threat. We will be prepared for whatever happens.'
Local LDS Bishops, and Fellowship Bible Church, the one non-LDS church in Lindon, have been invited to get involved in a sandbagging project, Bayless said.
'Six or seven years ago when we had a canal break, there was an amazing response from the community,' Bayless said. 'It was fun because people were making sandwiches for the workers. We know how to help our neighbors here.'