VIDEOS/PHOTOS: Residents in Provo are cleaning up after Wednesday’s rain caused a mudslide in the Buckley Draw Fire burn scar area. City crews said they had to respond to clear debris and mud on Nevada Avenue and Slate Canyon Drive. Debris also made it as far as State Street, where Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) crews responded and have reopened the street. The area received between .7 and .8 inches of rain in thirty minutes.
The U.S. Forest Service and National Weather Service classified the storm as a 10-year storm event, which means it has a 10% chance of occurring in that area in a given year. Due to the burn scars, Provo City says the storm’s impact was elevated and acted like a 25-year storm event, which has a 4% chance of occurring each year. Officials say the conditions and burn scars made the mudslide ‘inevitable’. Pleasant Grove District Ranger Ben Kaeja says, “The amount of water that the burn received, the soil, because of the fire with the ash laid on top of the soil, and the steepness of the slope made it, so it was just inevitable that debris was going to come off that hill.”
Gordon Haight, Provo City’s Public Works Director, said they knew the burn scars from the Buckley Draw Fire might increase the risk of a mudslide, as the area had experienced debris flow due to fire burn scars in 2004. Provo City reportedly took measures ahead of time to try to mitigate damage from any potential debris flow. “We extended the existing debris channels, ended up building a debris basin, put Jersey barriers along the street to try to deflect the water. We anticipated a similar flow that we saw in 2004,” Haight said, “The one that came was much more intense and ended up overwhelming all the infrastructure that we put in.”
Parley Smith lives nearby and received an email from his local church leader asking for volunteers to help clean up the debris. He says, “I was kind of expecting something like this could happen because of the heavy rain we had after the fire on the mountain there. We had a mudslide here a few years back, so I wasn’t too surprised.” Smith told ABC4 that the mudslide did not impact his home, because of existing debris flow channels that directed the flow. “Debris flow channels were able to protect homes in the area; however, a significant amount of mud reached the church at the intersection of Nevada Avenue and Slate Canyon Drive,” Provo City said in a statement on social media. City officials also said that they have had to haul away about 13,440 tons of debris. Public Works, Parks, and Airport Crews, along with over 200 volunteers, are working to clear the debris.
