Bryce Nielson, County Emergency Coordinator
What a week! Normally
the folks around Bear Lake would be watching the snow outside and seeing
temperature from 30F to 0F. There would
be snow, a frozen lake, and just trying to exist until late March hoping for
spring. As in past years, however, nothing
seems to be normal anymore.
The week started with a thaw and then catastrophic winds. The weather station at Logan Summit clocked winds
at 103 mph. They poured into the valley
and if it wasn’t tied down, it blew away.
The lake was completely frozen with ice averaging 4-5 inches thick. The winds pushed against the ice sheet and
finally broke it away from the shore at Garden City. It pushed some ice up along the east side but
when the wind quit it drifted back into the lake. I have never seen this phenomenon
before. In the process, it blew four
power poles down on Little Long Ridge which were basically inaccessible. Rocky Mountain Power had to bulldoze a road
to the site and then drag the trucks into to make repairs. The power was out in Pickleville, Sweetwater
Hill, Laketown and the south end for over 30 hours as the guys worked around
the clock to restore it. The community
came together and helped one another and made it through the event.
As people were recouping, the rain and warm temperatures
continued and on Friday morning water was flooding houses along Raspberry Patch
Road. Lots of damage. The television stations came and instantly
Utah knew about it. I need to clarify a
point. It was reported that the canal
breeched. The canal was empty except of
snow and ice and the water just ran over the top of it. The community once again rose to the
occasion. People and kids came in droves
to fill sandbags from the County truck that was equipped with a bagger. A lot of pizza was consumed on that cold
rainy day. I couldn’t be more proud of
everyone. It makes my Emergency Manager
job doable. The Town of Garden City,
Rich County Roads, local LDS wards and guys with heavy equipment all
participated. There was water coming out
of North Canyon, Garden City Canyon, the canyon above Harbor Village and Broad
canyon. Azure Cove was threatened. Folks met the challenge with thousands of
sandbags, hard work and aching muscles.
By Saturday morning we were under control and the operation ceased.
I hate to say it but this was a rare anomaly in
February. This has nothing to do with
normal spring runoff which is going to be monumental this year with all the saturated
snow on the ground. When the high
elevation snow starts to melt and the Bear River floods it will impact
everyone. Deployed sandbags will be
stored for future use. The citizens will
rise to the occasion again. Bear Lake
will come close to filling and all the beaches will be gone for the
summer. Just like it was forty years
ago.
The weather is unpredictable now. Whether it is due to climate change or
natural cycles, no one knows. Just look
at the positive aspects and deal with the negative ones. We still live in the best place in the world.
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