More than half of Fountain Green impacted by weekend flood, city officials say

FOUNTAIN GREEN, Sanpete County — People in a small Sanpete County town are cleaning up after a major flood.

More than 50% of the city was impacted by the flood that happened Sunday after three inches of rain fell in just one hour, Mayor Mark Coombs said.

That storm sent water pouring into Preston and Robyn Cox’s basement.

“I’ve never seen rain like that,” Preston Cox told KSL TV on Monday as he cleaned up debris.

He described hearing a “big growl” the day before and seeing water shooting up from underneath his fence. The water blew out the Coxes’ basement windows and filled the room with nearly eight feet of water.

The couple was able to save a few photos, but there was no time for anything else.

“Once the water hit, we were underwater within ten minutes,” Robyn Cox said. “Everything downstairs was destroyed.”

Next door, Holly Oldroyd took a video of water flooding into her basement windows.

“From the time the first window broke through, till the second and the third, and we had four feet of water, was about a minute and a half,” Oldroyd said. “It was fast.”

City officials were still tallying the damage Monday afternoon. They said most people who were hit by flooding reported several feet of water inside, and a few families were displaced, but no one was hurt. The American Red Cross was on scene Monday helping.

Fountain Green Elementary School flooded as well. Robyn Cox is the principal there.

“We had about five classrooms that flooded,” she said, noting the damage wasn’t too bad. “We canceled school for today, and then we’ll be back in session tomorrow.”

For others, though, cleanup will take much longer. But people from all around came together to do that.

“Preston and I will never be able to thank the community,” Robyn Cox said. “Everybody was here so fast last tonight.”

Preston Cox, who teaches math at nearby North Sanpete Middle School, became emotional as he described the outpouring of support.

“Kids are showing up that I taught. I haven’t seen their parents in years. People I haven’t seen in probably 20 years are showing up,” he said. “It’s just been absolutely just mind-boggling.”

The community has really turned out to help people in Fountain Green clean up. This home’s basement is also destroyed. @KSL5TV #utwx pic.twitter.com/VABogDl2Ia

— Daniel Woodruff (@danielmwoodruff) August 19, 2024

While his house sustained heavy damage from the flood, Preston Cox was optimistic.

“We’ll get her taken care of,” he said. “We’ll move on.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Coombs said that the city of Fountain Green is in the process of declaring a natural disaster to try to obtain additional resources as it recovers.

As for the possibility of state help, a spokesperson for Gov. Spencer Cox, who is from Sanpete County and was there Sunday when the flood hit, said the Department of Emergency Management has not yet received any requests from Fountain Green, but it’s not likely this flood meets the threshold necessary for state assistance.

We’ve had some flooding this week and today the town of Ft. Green got pummeled. One rain gauge recorded 3 inches in 1 hour. Still counting, but it’s possible half of the homes have damage. These are the people I grew up with and some of the best people on earth. If you only had 4… pic.twitter.com/ornhoX33qR

— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) August 19, 2024