Utah Power & Light Co. crews, homeowners and others were picking up the pieces in the aftermath of hurricane-force winds that ripped through northern Utah Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
The storm caused numerous power outages, forced closure of highways and schools, caused numerous accidents, damaged homes and house trailers and uprooted trees.The high winds, preceded by blowing and drifting snow, were apparently the highest in the Centerville area of Davis County, where several 104-mph gusts were clocked about 2 a.m. and where residents were without electrical power for several hours beginning late Wednesday.
A garage roof and part of the roof on the new home of Robert and Sharon Tateoka, 254 E. 1875 North, Centerville, were blown off by the high winds, which rumbled across much of an area stretching from Utah County north to Cache Valley and the Utah-Idaho border.
"We heard the roof bouncing, then heard a loud crack and a pop," Robert Tateoka said. "It started bouncing a couple of inches. We got out of the house and watched it bounce into the back yard."
The bitter cold winds, which were most severe along bench areas, mangled aluminum trim on the Tateoka's home and left the garage door to blanket the family's two cars, one a new four-wheel drive vehicle. A brick wall also crumbled.
William J. Alder, meteorologist in charge of the Salt Lake office of the National Weather Service, said power was off for some time Wednesday night and Thursday morning in parts of Cache Valley, where a house trailer was blown off its foundation at Utah State University.
Several semitrailer trucks were blown over on I-15 between Kaysville and Farmington, and an unindentified woman was seriously injured in an accident at about 38th South and I-215 Wednesday evening. The name of the woman and other details were not available from the Utah Highway Patrol Thursday morning.
UP&L spokesman Dave Mead said significant areas of Cache Valley, Davis, Weber and Box Elder counties were still without power by mid-morning Thursday.
Mead said 200 to 300 workers were still trying to repair damage caused from the storm, which sheared numerous poles, downed lines and cut off power to homes. The storm was similar to another severe windstorm that hit Davis and Weber counties in the early spring of 1983.
Several stretches of freeway in Davis County and other areas, including Weber Canyon and the Park City area were closed to traffic Wednesday evening and early Thursday.
In Layton, a house under construction at 941 S. 250 East, was blown off its foundation. A Layton Police dispatcher said the house just collapsed from the wind.
A Layton dispatcher said late Wednesday that several fire calls had been received in that community. The dispatcher said the wind was blowing so hard that chimneys were blocked, causing small fires in some homes. Three trucks were were summoned to fires at 12:30 a.m.
A trailer was blown 8 feet off its foundation in West Bountiful, and 4 trailers were blown off their foundations at Utah State University. One of the trailers was hurled up to 6 feet.
In Davis County, winds caused power to go out about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. Scattered power outages from Clearfield to Woods Cross were reported throughout the night.
Sunset and Clinton residents were without power for about four hours when wind knocked out power lines, Utah Power & Light Co. officials said.
Hardest hit by the Canyon winds were Farmington, Centerville and Woods Cross. In Centerville and Wood Cross, two broken power poles kept about 400 residents in the dark for several hours.