PROVO — Folks who live in Provo's Buckley Draw pay particular attention to what color of flag is waving at the Spring Creek Elementary School when thunder starts to roll.
The blue flag was flying when the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning at 5:30 p.m. Thursday for the recently burned area. Blue warns residents to take precautions for potential mudslides or flash floods.
A flag-warning system, similar to the Homeland Security warning system, has been established for the neighborhood because of last summer's 3,000-acre wildfire near Buckley Draw. The blaze has caused the ground in the area to become hard and resistant to water absorption, creating a high potential for mudslides and debris flow.
The flags range in color from green, telling residents that conditions are normal, to red, telling residents to evacuate the area.
"It was quickly apparent to everyone that something needed to be done after last year's fire to avoid destroying homes," said Michael Mower, a spokesman for Provo City.
Provo, along with the Natural Resources Conservation Services, recently completed a 1,500-foot-long diversion channel to prevent debris flow or mudslides from destroying approximately 100 homes in the Buckley Draw neighborhood.
Ted Gwilliam, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years, said "fire made us all very concerned. It was a very similar situation to the fire and mudslide in Santaquin."
A landslide occurred in Santaquin last September because the city received more than a quarter of an inch of rain in less than 15 minutes.
Debris flows hit Alpine's Preston Canyon in 2001 and 2002 after a fire in 2000 burned vegetation that would normally hold back sliding mud and debris.
Dyron Dehlinger, who has lived in the Buckley Draw neighborhood for a year and a half, said he is always concerned about flash floods and mudslides.
"If it (rain) gets too much or too bad or I figure I need to take my family away, then I will," he said.
Dehlinger also sandbags his back yard.
"I'm really happy with the ditch," he said. "I went to the meetings and knew that they were going to do it. I'm really happy with what the city had done."
However, eight-year Buckley Draw resident Lance Leslie, who feels fire is more of a danger than flooding, said he wasn't concerned about flash floods before the diversion channel's completion.
"I was told I should be, but I think my neighbors that are right against the hill should be more worried than the houses down further."
E-MAIL: mrobertson@desnews.com