Utah disaster cleanup company bringing in extra equipment for flooding

DRAPER, Utah — On a sunny Monday afternoon at Draper City Park, the kids were burning off energy after a very long, snowy season. So snowy that parents looked to the snow-covered mountain to the east with worry.

“I think everybody’s bracing themselves,” said Draper resident Aaron Edson.

“It’s definitely a concern,” said Mary Ann Olsen, who was at the park with her grandkids. “I think the state’s doing as much as they can to prepare for it. Just kind of pray that it doesn’t get warm really fast.”

For 50 years, Utah Disaster Kleenup has helped Utahns when disaster strikes — they fix broken pipes, deal with flooding issues. You name it, they’ve seen it. What they haven’t dealt with is a spring following a winter of record snow.

Keri Jones, the director of marketing, said plans are already in the works to ship extra equipment to help with what is expected to be historic flooding, although there’s really no way to know exactly what will happen.

“We really don’t know what to expect,” Jones said. “We do know that when someone experiences flooding from a broken pipe, that can be stopped. But Mother Nature, that’s an entirely different animal.”

Jones said regardless of what the flooding brings, they will get to every customer that needs them; some lower-priority calls will likely have to wait a little longer for help.  She said in the meantime, people should do everything they can to prepare — get sandbags, a shop vac, utility knife, small pry bar, work gloves, contractor-grade garbage bags, and household disinfectant. She also said you can rent bigger items like air movers and dehumidifiers at Home Depot and Lowes.

Edson believes this is going to be a summer to remember.

”You know we have record snowfall, I mean, we have 850 inches. It’s all gonna melt. It’s all gonna come down and we’re just not made for that.”