Powerful winds tear through Tooele
Dec 1, 2022, 10:44 PM | Updated: Dec 2, 2022, 7:46 am
SALT LAKE CITY — Truckers always know where the best places are to stop. Sometimes, though, it’s not their choice.
A small Sinclair gas station in Delle is the last one in Utah heading west on Interstate 80.
(Jack Grimm/KSL TV)
It’s still another hour to the Nevada state line, so when high winds force the interstate to close to high-profile vehicles like 18-wheelers, Onyx Craule sees them pulling in.
“When it gets very windy out there, they start coming in,” said Craule. “We’ve got all sorts of truck drivers in here all the time, like, they say I’m pretty sure I am stranded for the night, hope it’s okay for me to stay in your parking lot.”
Craule knows what strong winds out here can do.
“There have been trucks knocked over in our parking lot because the wind is so bad,” said Craule.
The winds weren’t that strong on Thursday, but there has been some minor damage in Tooele.
A fence was blown over. A fast-food sign had some damage. Even Christmas decorations from yards were scattered.
“I might just leave them laying down for right now,” Tommy Atkinson, who lives in Tooele said. “That’s what I was just thinking about. It’s supposed to come in tonight real bad. I might just let them lay down and secure them and put them back up tomorrow.”
That may be a good idea for what was expected overnight. Craule has seen it all before.
“We will open the door sometimes and our closed sign will just fly off halfway across the parking lot just because somebody opened the door,” Craule.
