By Amy Young
The Wasatch Front has overcome a five-year drought, recording water levels that are over 123 percent of normal. State-wide levels are, on average, 159 percent of their normal levels.
Randy Julander with the National Resources Conservation Service, said to KSL that although the levels are above normal, there is no need to worry right now. The runoff will not start in northern Utah for another month, but when it starts, it will be heavy. The amount of flooding and damage will depend on the spring temperatures, he said.
With water levels on the rise and more rain expected this week, Utah residents and city officials remember the floods that rocked the state 23 years ago and hope to avoid a repeat.
The 1981-1982 water year, which ran from October to October, broke all records. September 1982 became one of the wettest months to date, with more than 25 inches of rain falling ? ten times more than normal.
Mother Nature?s punishment pushed through the fall and into the winter. According to the United States Geological Survey, Utah experienced one of the most severe winters in the agency?s history. The weather in January and February 1983 finally seemed to calm down, but then March came in like a lion.
In her article Salt Lake County, Centennial History, Linda Sillitoe said, ?March broke records with deluges of rain and snow. Skiers and resort owners smiled while city, county and state officials prepared for the worst.?
According to the USGS, April brought more moisture and winds with speeds of up to 10 mph. On April 10, the town of Thistle became the first community to receive a blow from Mother Nature. A giant muddy wall slid into Spanish Fork Canyon, blocking the Spanish Fork River. A natural reservoir formed, pouring water and earth into 22 homes.
The town was buried under 150 feet of water and for months US 6, the primary route between Wasatch Front cities and Denver, was closed while crews worked to construct a bypass. Thistle disappeared, suffering $200 million in damages, according to the Utah Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management.
The beginning of May brought more rain and snow. Statewide snow levels were 158 percent of normal levels. It seemed winter would last forever, but by the month?s end temperatures were into the 80s. On May 26, city officials constructed a new ?river? on 13 South in Salt Lake City. The river was built in an effort to contain the flow from Red Butte, Emigration and Parley?s creeks. The new route, sustained by sandbags and plastic, flowed from Sixth West in to the Jordan River.
Dave Miller, who was a supervisor for the Utah Department of Transportation maintenance station, told the Deseret News, ?We would load 10-wheelers with sandbags. It was like millions and millions of sandbags that we distributed.?
As temperatures continued to rise, so did the water levels throughout the state. City Creek jumped its boundaries in Memory Grove and raced towards the city. The creek flowed against the LDS Church Office Building and Temple Square. The area was sandbagged as volunteers seemed to appear almost immediately.
Under the direction of general authority Elder Robert E. Wells, the LDS community took action. As members of the LDS church and community came to help hold back the floods, their volunteer efforts received national attention.
In an article in Time magazine in June 1983, Wells said, ?We?re always organized for emergencies. We have a tight-knit ecclesiastical order from the grass roots all the way to the top.?
Gov. Scott M. Matheson said in the same article, ?The Mormon church has the best grapevine in the world. One phone call to the church triggered the quickest network of activity I?ve ever seen. When you push the button, people come out in droves.?
By June?s end, the floods were over, but the city still suffered.
?People worked for many days,? said Jay Bowen, who worked for Salt Lake City?s Public Works Department in 1983, in an interview with the Deseret News. ?It was strenuous and tiring.?
According to the Utah Division of Comprehensive Disaster Management, overall damages from the spring floods totaled $621 million and Pres. Ronald Reagan declared 12 counties in the state to be disaster areas, making Utah eligible for federal funds.
With impending floods currently on the horizon, state officials said they are more prepared now than in 1983 and hope to avoid a repeat of the disaster.