HELPER – City officials in Helper said Monday that cleanup efforts would likely continue into September after the community suffered damage from flooding and hail during a severe storm over the weekend.
Cleanup crews had planned to close some sections of streets on the northern end of the city on Tuesday to sweep away a layer of dirt that had already caused dust.
“We’re going to use a sweeper to clean up the dust because it’s becoming a dust bowl,” said Mayor Lenise Peterman. “We scraped five loads of mud out of the underpass and the north end of Main Street yesterday.”
Cleanup is still underway after a massive storm in August 2024 caused golf ball-sized hail and devastating flooding in Carbon County. (Courtesy of Mark Montoya and Stephanie Ariotti-Puliese)
Peterman said the city, in conjunction with the Carbon County Emergency Management Agency, will deploy specialized equipment the following week to clear caked-on debris, rocks and mud from riverbeds and culverts.
“The next thing we need to do, of course, is make sure our sewer system can drain,” Peterman said.
Local resident Mark Montoya was on Main Street on Monday when the storm brought golf ball-sized hailstones.
“Every neon sign in town was broken,” he said as he escorted a KSL crew through town. “It was a crazy, crazy storm.”
Cleanup is still underway after a massive storm in August 2024 caused golf ball-sized hail and devastating flooding in Carbon County. (Jack Grimm, KSL TV)
He said the storm then began dumping rain. Soon after, he and others in the city used their phones to photograph floodwaters breaking through and inundating some areas, including an underpass on Janet Street.
“The whole area was under a good four to six inches of water,” Montoya said as he crossed a road on his way to a channel closer to the Price River. “When I came down here, the water was sloshing over the pedestrian bridge there.”
Peterman said the city was spared basement flooding and fared much better overall than it did during a similar weather event about 12 years earlier – an outcome that was partly due to improvements made later.
“We believe the systems are working,” Peterman said. “These culverts were funded by NRCS, a flood emergency response organization, so I’m glad they worked. I hate that our main street is so dirty, but I would rather clean up mud and dirt than have people get hurt by a storm like this.”
Montoya was also grateful that no one was hurt in the severe storm and flooding.
“Respect the water in any case,” Montoya said. “It has a will of its own. It does what it wants.”
