CROSSROADS THE
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Connecting Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs
JOURNAL
www.thecrossroadsjournal.com
Flood disaster brings Eagle Mounout best in neighbors tain Olympian to make one more run
By Emily Fotheringham Staff Writer
Hundreds of residents received a call in the middle of the night on September 2 asking to help assemble sand bags. The torrential rain fall from the previous evening was already reeking-havoc on a number of houses in the area and those in leadership positions wanted to minimize additional destruction. Within an hour of receiving the calls, an army was assembled and working— the start of a volunteer force that would work throughout the threeday weekend and ultimately put in well over 50,000 hours of on-site service. Thousands of volunteers came to help including contractors, church groups (many had church cancelled so that they could help), and concerned friends and neighbors. Hardest hit in the flash flood was Saratoga Springs’ Jacob’s Ranch neighborhood, where a number of homes received damage, four of which significantly. Included in the destruction were broken windows, broken walls, and mud and hail-filled basements, some rumored to be so full that the mess was coming through the upper level floors. Within the day the city had closed car access to the most affected area where volunteers were making human chains to pass out buckets of mud. Although some city officials
were reported to have said that a flood like this only happens once every 500 years, and that a flash flood couldn’t have been forecasted, area residents had already been worried about just such an occurrence after the dump fire earlier this summer. Now as city leaders pursue the best measures to take to prevent future occurrences, neighbors are stepping up to provide relief to those most heavily hurt by the slide. One volunteer who has done her fair share of easing the burden is Saratoga Springs’ Breanna McComber. She states, “My husband, Michael McComber, is a City Councilman in Saratoga Springs and was notified immediately about what had happened. When he returned from the homes and told me what he saw, I was shocked. I tried to put myself in their shoes, and could not fathom the thought of having eight feet of mud in my basement and losing so much. It made my heart ache for them, and I wanted to do something.” McComber has done something in creating the blog SaratogaSpringsRelief.blogspot.com. She states, “Your home is supposed to be a place where you feel safe. The sooner their homes get back to normal, the sooner that feeling of safety can be restored. Due to personal health issues, I was unable to go up and help remove the mud and gravel from people's homes. I thought, "What could I do instead?" I realized that after the mud was cleaned out
these families were going to need a lot of help to rebuild what they had lost. So, I set up the blog SaratogaSpringsRelief.blogspot. com, where people could start donating money and learn of ways to donate other services and goods (clothes, toys, furniture, etc.).” Besides listing items that can be donated to the affected families, the blog also lists other fundraising efforts, including fundraising events and tables set up at Wal-Mart where shoppers can purchase items to be delivered to the families. As of last week the blog has earned over $15,000 for the families, $10,000 of which came from a generous donation by Chuck-A-Rama. According to the blog none of the devastated homes are going to be covered by insurance, so McComber estimates that it will take over $250,000 to get the families’ homes back to where they were. Financial donations can be made directly to the blog, or at Bank of American Fork Account # 4679379 and items to be donated can be dropped off at Avondale Academy Mon. through Fri. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Those unable to view the devastation in person can also visit the blog for pictures of the damage. McComber states, “I am excited to say that we are moving in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go. To get an updated list of what is still needed, please visit the blog.”
Flood prevention in EM By Nancy Kramer Staff Writer
When target shooters were up in the hills above Saratoga Springs, I’m sure they had no idea what havoc they would cause. Not only did their actions cause a devastating fire, but later a torrent of rain would precipitate a mudslide, bringing down tons of mud, which flooded homes, roads. Who knows how much money and heartache this has caused taxpayers and homeowners? What about Eagle Mountain? The fires caused damage for residents in both Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain, but what about flooding? Mayor Jackson opened up about the recent flooding. “We haven’t had any storm related flooding from the recent wildfires, but in previous years we have had flooding in a few isolated areas in the city.”
Jackson described what the city has in place as far as emergency flooding plans. “We have an emergency hotline number for residents to report flooding (801-789-5959, then press 5). Our storm drain department handles the initial call and determines the amount of resources necessary. We have an emergency operations plan that can be implemented at any given time for natural disasters or other types of emergencies. We also store sandbags at our public works building.” As far as precautions the city has taken, Jackson said, “We’ve done extensive work in areas that were affected by flooding by upsizing storm drainage pipes, adding trenches, building a cut-off ditch above the subdivision, installing an overflow pipe to bypass areas where there were pipe restrictions, and we’ve widened the cross-sections of existing dry washes.”
Jackson went on to talk about the cost of the damage caused by the fire and the floods. “There are a lot of variables to the question, such as who pays for the damage caused by the fire and the floods, so we would have to have a specific case to provide information for. Currently for the Dump Fire the city is covering 7.2 percent of the total bill, of that there is a federal grant that is covering 75 percent of what we are required to pay and then we’re responsible. The improvements we made for the flooding were paid out of our storm drain/utilities budget. That is why the city implemented a storm drain fee on the utility bill in recent years.” Mayor Jackson and Eagle Mountain City seem to have taken as many precautions as they can to protect the residents living there. Now it’s up to the target shooters to be aware of the dangers and use good judgment.
By Emily Fotheringham Staff Writer
Eagle Mountain is lucky to be able to claim an Olympian as a resident. Noelle PikusPace competed in Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics where she finished fourth in the sport of skeleton. Now her goal is to compete in Russia in the 2014 Olympics, but is going to need some financial help to get there. Born in Provo, Pikus-Pace grew up competing in a variety of sports and became an AllAmerican in track and field. She excelled quickly in the sport of skeleton and in 2005 became the first American woman to win the Overall World Cup title. Expected to compete for the gold at the Torino 2006 Olympics, tragedy struck when she was hit by a
runaway bobsled and suffered a compound fracture in her leg. Her amazing comeback from the accident is chronicled in the documentary “114 Days” and she went on to become World Champion in 2007. Now a mother of two, Pikus-Pace had decided to retire after the 2010 Olympics, but after taking some rides last season is hoping to go for the gold one more time. Ultimately it will come down to how much money she and her team can raise in an effort to offset equipment, training, and travel costs for the next year and a half. It will take raising $30,000 for one more Olympic dream to come true. People interested in helping can visit: http://www.indiegogo.com/Tea mPikusPace or by purchasing hats at www.SnowFireHats.com.