Saratoga Springs residents cleaning up after intense storms damage basements

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Monday’s monsoonal thunderstorms left several homes in Saratoga Springs with damage to their basements.

Videos provided to KSL TV show several inches of water poured into the basement of Earl and Meuller families, each living in different areas of Saratoga Springs.

Nathan Earl said at one point his backyard looked like a lake and so much water came pouring in, that it busted their basement window leaving behind a muddy mess.

“It was chaos for about an hour,” he said.

The Brinck family is now left repairing carpet, baseboards, and drywall. They just moved here from South Carolina and have only lived in their house for about a month.

“(Our) Insurance doesn’t cover rain. So that kind of changes our plans, trying to figure out how to manage what we’re going to do on our own and what we’re going to hire out,” Laura Brinck said.

Earl had to dig a trench in his backyard to get the water to drain.

“I knew the water needed to go somewhere and that was where we dug,” he said.

But as messy as things got, there was a silver lining. Each family said neighbors, friends, and strangers showed up to help.

“Most of what we did was cut carpet into strips that were light enough to carry,” Charlie Carn said. He and his three teenage sons answered that call for help after they saw messages on Facebook.

His sons, Ethan, Sam, and Logan each said they were happy to provide the service. Ironically, the trio helped clean up after a flooding disaster in Michigan after four dams broke, flooding nearby towns.

“It was kind of fun because you didn’t ring a doorbell. You just went straight down to someone’s basement and said, ‘Hey, can I help you?'” Charlie Carn said.

“I guess there’s one takeaway from all this. If someone needs help, even if you don’t know them, just to take the call and go serve,” Ethan Carn said.

Earl said it could take a month for him to clean up. The Brinck’s had disaster cleanup on site surveying the damage and hoped to be able to repair some concrete so any more rain didn’t make things worse.