Cleanup continues after flash flood in Fountain Green (2024)

Cleanup continued in Fountain Green last week after a massive storm hit the area Sunday, Aug. 18, and caused flooding estimated to have impacted more than half the homes in the community.

“We’ve asked some of the older residents, and no one’s ever seen anything like this. No one,” said Fountain Green Mayor Mark Coombs. “They call it a one-in-a-1,000-year storm.”

Fountain Green City officials worked through the week to contact the homeowners of each of the 432 homes in the town and find out if their homes had been damaged and what kind of damage they had experienced, Coombs said. As of the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 22, 167 homes had been reported as damaged in the flood. The owners of another 126 homes had not yet been contacted.

“Right now, we’re still trying to assess all the damage that’s happened in town,” Coombs said. The impacts reported as of the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 22, ranged from minor water penetration into unfinished basem*nts to a home that was pushed completely off its foundation and had to be condemned, he said.

Some homes had finished basem*nts that were completely destroyed along with all their contents.

“There’s a wide range of damages to homeowners,” Coombs said.

More rain fell on the city on Monday, Aug. 19, causing three of the homes flooded on Sunday to be flooded again, he said.

Both Fountain Green City and Sanpete County have formally declared the city a disaster area, Coombs said.

Storm damage

The storm was sudden, lasted about 15 minutes and produced strange results, impacting far more homes outside of an area formally designated as prone to floods than inside that area.

“We have part of the city that actually is in a flood plain,” Coombs said. “The irony of this is, out of that flood plain, I think only two homes got hit (with flooding).”

Coombs said one Fountain Green resident with a rain gauge at his home said the city received 3 inches or rain in an hour.

Fountain Green resident Robyn Cox said the flood water came out of hills to the west and broke through three of her west-facing basem*nt windows. Going from no water in her home to a completely flooded basem*nt took about 15 minutes.

“It filled my basem*nt up to about 8 feet,” Cox said. “We were about 2 inches from it hitting the ceiling. For a good 20 minutes, we had a river that just flowed straight through our basem*nt.”

Her basem*nt and its contents were a complete loss. The Coxes’ neighbors’ house also experienced major damage, she said.

For the most part, structural damage in the city occurred in private homes, Coombs said. The Fountain Green City Hall experienced some damage when water got into its basem*nt, flooding the area where the city library is located as well as two classrooms. A theater located in downtown Fountain Green that is used for public events got flooded as well.

A bridge at the city cemetery was washed out and part of the cemetery was flooded, Coombs said. Fortunately, none of the headstones appear to have been moved and cleanup there will be limited to the removal of debris and gravel.

Five classrooms at Fountain Green Elementary School experienced some minor flooding from the storm, which occurred just days after North Sanpete School District’s first day of school on Aug. 15. New wood chips had been spread over the school’s playground area, and flood waters lifted those chips and washed them into an adjacent grassy sports field.

Cox, who is principal of Fountain Green Elementary, said the school district sent custodians from other schools to Fountain Green Elementary and they helped clean up the water quickly. Athletic teams from North Sanpete High School along with other volunteers cleaned up the wood chips and moved them back to the playground.

The elementary school was closed Aug. 19 and 20 to allow time for cleanup and drying out, with school resuming on Aug. 21.

Cox said five of her staff members, including herself, had homes that had been impacted by the storm.

The recovery

While the storm caused a great amount of damage in Fountain Green, the response has been equally great. Fountain Green’s volunteer fire department responded immediately to pump out residents’ basem*nts, and fire departments from Moroni and Wales also responded to Fountain Green’s request for their help, Coombs said.

“We have hundreds of volunteers that showed up Sunday to bail people out,” Coombs said. The volunteers came from inside and outside Sanpete County. “We had people from all over that either had residence here or just wanted to help,” he said.

Cox said within hours after the storm, the Moroni fire department was at her home pumping out her basem*nt. Another approximately 30 people showed up to help clear items out of the basem*nt, and by midnight her basem*nt was completely empty of water and belongings.

At 7 a.m. the next day, more community members showed up to help remove soggy sheet rock and mud from her and her neighbors’ basem*nts.

“It was an amazing community event after a lot of devastation,” Cox said. “It was very humbling for my husband and I. We’re still trying to figure out how we’re ever going to repay the community and show our gratitude for how many people came to help.”

As for Fountain Green Elementary, Cox said it’s been drying out nicely and should be fine.

Coombs said Sanpete County has been providing assistance in the recovery efforts and many mayors from other cities had called to ask how they could help. Various businesses and organizations have also contacted Fountain Green City with offers of assistance, including providing food, clothing and supplies as well as helping with cleanup and reconstruction efforts. Civic and youth groups have been assisting with the cleanup.

The Red Cross of Utah was in Fountain Green following the storm to help identify residents’ needs and provide cleanup kits. “We encourage everyone to be cautious when cleaning up, wear protective clothing, and dispose of any food, water or medicine that came in contact with flood water,” said Benjamin Donner, executive director of the American Red Cross Central and Southern Utah Chapter. “When in doubt, throw it out.”

Relief efforts

• Utah Heritage Credit Union is accepting donations for Fountain Green residents impacted by the recent flood, and UHCU will match up to $10,000 in total donations. Donations can be made at any of UHCU’s branch offices. Visit utahheritagecu.org for more information.
• The Stallings Company in Mt. Pleasant is offering $1,000 off the installation of furnaces, water heaters, wood stoves, gas stoves and boilers to Fountain Green residents impacted by the flood. For more information, call 435-462-3152
• A Flood Reference Guide with a list of recovery resources is available on the Fountain Green City website (fountaingreencity.gov).
• The Utah Red Cross reports that residents who haven’t yet received a visit for damage assessment can call 1-800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767) to request one.

Photo courtesy of Robyn Cox

Belongings damaged during a recent flood caused by a rainstorm lay outside a Fountain Green home.

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