Moab cleans up after flood, prepares for future rain

GRAND COUNTY, Utah – Moab residents and city crews continued their clean-up efforts on Thursday, five days after a historic storm turned Main Street into a river of mud and debris.

“We’re all exhausted,” Levi Jones, Moab’s public works director said.

City work crews and volunteers have removed trees, bushes, branches and other debris from Mill Creek.

“We have multiple bridges in town and three were completely blocked off,” Jones said.

Crews also are working on removing dirt and mud from streets so that storm drains won’t clog during the next rain storm.

“As of Wednesday we hauled away close to 300 tons worth of debris, just from the streets,” Jones said. “And we have homeowners pushing stuff to the curb and eventually we’ll get to that stuff, too.”

Moab is also making sandbags available so that residents and businesses can protect their property.

“It’s a big mess all over town,” said Fred Every, who lives south of town in the Spanish Valley.

Every stopped by one of the city’s sandbagging sites on Thursday to fill bags for his home and also for his neighbor’s property.

“That’s why I’m doing this, because it could happen again,” he said. “We might have two, 100-year floods.”

Every has lived in the area for four decades and said the power of the storm surprised him with the rain blowing sideways at his home.

“A lot of water. A lot of rain,” he said. “I couldn’t believe the debris where it came over the bridges.”

Residents can fill sandbags at two locations: Moab City Public Works at 470 Kane Creek Blvd. and also at the Grand County Road Department at 3500 S. U.S. Highway 191.

The city and businesses are also reminding potential visitors that they are open for business.

“All of our streets are open,” Jones said. “All of our businesses have water. Nothing has been shut down.”

A spokesperson for Moab said damage sustained from the flooding is estimated at $10 million. However, the city is still adding up the total price tag.