‘Things could change real quick for us:’ Weber County avoids weekend flooding, officials on alert

OGDEN — Water levels in Weber County are high and officials are staying on alert. This past weekend, the sheriff’s office warned people to avoid streams and rivers due to rising waters, but no flooding took place. 

Kenny Miller, the Ogden City emergency manager said Monday, there’s currently no forecast for flooding but conditions can change any day. 

“Last week, the flows on both the Weber and the Ogden River were up a little bit,” he said. “They’ve been decreasing, and now the reservoirs are at the levels that they need to be in order to catch all the snowpack.” 

Miller said the rivers did not reach flood stage. He said water managers have been carefully monitoring releases to make room for the snowpack that will soon melt. 

“We never got to the flood stage this year like we did last year to where we were concerned about,” he said. “We did have the equipment and resources staged in the area just for the fact that if they did hit those flood stages, we’d be ready to go.” 

Miller said the rivers are running high, fast and they’re very cold. 

“Just a few days ago, it was snow, so it’s very cold,” he said. “It won’t take very long for people to reach temperatures of hypothermia and hitting in real danger.

Ogden Kayak Park

Ðespite the freezing cold water in the Weber River, the rushing current is a welcome sight for some visitors of the Ogden Kayak Park.

Miller said crews recently got a call about a kayak stuck in the river.

“Our fire crews went down to recover that kayak just to make sure that nobody was in there, nobody was in danger,” he said.

They didn’t find someone inside of it. Fortunately, the owner lived, and he reached out to them on social media when they posted about recovering the kayak 

“He was a little bit banged up, but nobody was really seriously injured,” Miller said.  

Miller said the kayaker was bucked out when he likely hit a snag in the water. He said despite his bumps and bruises, the kayaker did the right thing.

“He knew better than to go after it,” Miller said. “Just as the water was running really fast and figured he’d rather be safe than end up down the river, where he shouldn’t be.” 

Miller said more rocks and netting are in place along the Weber River’s banks after last year’s record breaking runoff. 

“I don’t know if we’re ever in the clear as long as we still have water up in the mountains,” he said. 

With another above average winter, they’re not taking any chances. They want the public to be cautious around the water.  

“If we have a real fast warm up, things could change real quick for us,” Miller said.