ST. GEORGE — So many people need help and so much needs to be done in the ravaged communities along southwestern Utah's Virgin and Santa Clara rivers that "we may need King Solomon down here before we're through," says Muriel Blake.
But already that help is beginning to bear fruit, says Blake, who is among those trying to raise funds for flood victims in southwestern Utah.
Six families who nearly lost their homes to the raging Santa Clara River in January are breathing a sigh of relief after learning donations will help pay for critical repairs.
"These families' homes needed structural underpinnings in order to stabilize them," said Blake, a member of the board of trustees of the Virgin River/Santa Clara Flood Relief Fund, a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to raise funds for flood victims.
"These are the first funds approved for disbursement," said Blake of the initial $90,000 to be spent on piers to support the six homes. "We want people to know that their donations are being distributed to the people who need it most.
"We have some really difficult decisions ahead of us."
Nearly two dozen homes were destroyed by the floods, and more than 30 were either severely damaged or compromised so that officials had to condemn some of the houses.
Local, state and federal funds are expected to help the communities repair their flood-damaged infrastructure. And this week, the Small Business Administration — reversing an earlier decision — declared Utah's Washington and Kane counties as disaster areas. Applications for low-interest SBA loans can now be submitted by homeowners, renters, businesses and other organizations.
The relief fund operates differently, for it is based on donations.
Affected homeowners fill out an application that outlines their losses and personal financial situations. A disbursement committee is analyzing each request, looking at each one on a case-by-case basis, Blake said.
One woman had already taken out a loan to pay for structural piers beneath her compromised house along the river. That loan, said Blake, will likely be repaid by donations from the nonprofit group.
And while donations will be used to help reinforce the homes so that building permits can be issued to complete repairs, the funds won't pay to rebuild back yards that washed away.
"We wanted to get these homes stabilized right away," Blake said. "Restoration of yards is something we can look at later."
Sales of a book and DVD produced to document the floods and raise donations to help flood victims went so well there are very few copies left, said Carol Sapp, who is also helping with the fund-raising efforts.
Also, "We've had five lots donated and eight contractors donate their expertise," she said. "We're lining up subcontractors and suppliers right now who want to help these families rebuild."
The nonprofit group has raised about $1.2 million but needs at least $1.8 million more, Sapp added, to meet the already known needs of the many flood victims.
Protecting the homes along the Santa Clara and Virgin rivers from future danger is an around-the-clock endeavor, said Larry Bulloch, St. George City public works director.
"We've got 20 trucks full of rocks coming in here every five minutes, six days a week, to build this rock wall," he said, pointing to a massive truck hauling a mound of rocks down Valley View Drive and then onto a temporary dirt road along the river channel. Much of the reconstruction work in the river channel is being done in Green Valley, one of the hardest hit sections of St. George.
Bulloch said crews bury the rocks three feet deep and then pile another 11 feet of rocks on top of that. The 30-foot-wide rock walls are lined with a black filter fabric to keep sand from being washed away from the newly built structures.
"The rock walls will reduce the amount of erosion," said Bulloch of the 300 to 400 feet of lineal rock being packed along the edge of the river each day. "We're just doing this in the most critical areas, where we need to protect people and homes."
The Natural Resource Conservation Service is paying $6 million to complete the rock walls, while the Army Corps of Engineers supplied $87,000 to clear silt and debris from the Virgin River in Bloomington near the Man O' War Bridge.
A consortium that includes Washington County, St. George, Santa Clara and the Washington County Water Conservancy District is conducting a $150,000 study of the two rivers and its new channels.
"One of the other lessons we've learned through this is that what one city does can affect another city," Bulloch said. "We need to maintain the channels for everyone."
Contributing: Associated Press
E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com