SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 13, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall called a news conference Thursday morning to offer an update on overnight efforts to mitigate or manage flood damage and to thank hundreds of volunteers who labored through the night.
“When I went home around two in the morning, we still had many, many volunteers filling sandbags,” Mendenhall said. “And because of their diligent work and the great pre-planning, and then deployment of these teams, we could have had hundreds of houses impacted. Instead, we had relatively few. At this point, to our knowledge, no homes have sustained major damage.
“This is a tribute to the teamwork between the city, the county and the residents in Salt Lake City. This is what we do. We show up. We work hard together. We’re really good at it. And I am so proud of Salt Lakers who showed up last night, some people even without shoes on, to work side by side with people of all walks of life.”
Mendenhall said volunteers filled “at least several 100 If not more than 1,000 sandbags.”
Laura Briefer, director of the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, said damage could have been much worse.
“On Monday we talked to our community and the media about our preparedness actions in advance of runoff this season,” she said. “And I’m here to say that starting that flood preparation at the end of February has paid off in mitigation of damage.”
Briefer said something can always happen upstream despite planning.
“We have debris that comes down in the middle of the runoff, and storm drains can get blocked or overflow. Our planners, the city and county, all of our emergency management planners were very successful, and we had crews here overnight.”
Briefer asked people to stay out of the area of 1500 East and Blaine Avenue due to unstable surfaces caused by underlying dirt being washed away.
“Not only are we asking people not to drive there, but we’re also asking pedestrians and bicyclists to stay away from there. We’re currently assessing the road to see if there’s damage to the road. But the sidewalk there is definitely damaged. We don’t want anybody walking over there.”
A fire official said 98 homes were under voluntary evacuation, but none of the homeowners had chosen to evacuate as of Thursday morning.
Salt Lake Councilman Dan Dugan urged everyone to stay safe from the running waters, which he described as cold and fast moving. He also said the city is seeking more volunteers to fill sandbags. One such opportunity will be at 1:30 p.m. today, Thursday. Volunteers are asked to meet near a Chevron station at 1700 East and 1700 South. See details below.
