Minor to moderate flooding was reported Sunday as hot weather continued to melt the phenomenal snowpack that has covered Utah's higher elevations.
Pleasant Grove developed its own smaller version of Salt Lake City's "State Street River" of 1983. The "Fifth North Stream" came into being when floodwaters were diverted down that street after a channel became backed up.
"We had a blockage in one of our channels that took water from our debris basin down to the canal," Mayor Jim Danklef said, speaking by telephone from the site Sunday afternoon.
More spring runoff water than officials had anticipated was running down Grove Creek, he said. When the channel became blocked, the fast water began to erode canal banks. "So we had to run it down Fifth North," he said.
The current popped out pieces of the street's blacktop. Rather than allow the entire road to become damaged by the stream, officials decided to use concrete barriers to channel the water down the middle of the road.
The plan is to have vehicles driving on both sides of the street while the stream flows between the barriers in the middle. But it was uncertain when the project would be completed.
"We've got it under control pretty well," Danklef said.
"We've had an outpouring of help from the (LDS) wards and stakes," he added. An estimated 450 volunteers and city employees filled sandbags for the project. He estimated the city has 25,000 sandbags. Forklifts and other equipment were in place, and city employees were working to control the stream.
People brought food and drinks, and volunteer truck drivers hauled material. At the site of the overflow, so many volunteers showed up that many were thanked and sent home because there wasn't room to use all of them.
By Sunday afternoon, no Pleasant Grove homes had been damaged.
In Iron County, officials closed the Mid-Valley Road west of Enoch from 2700 West to the Lund Highway. An open field had filled with snowmelt, and the water was threatening neighboring homes. Workers were planning to cut through the highway so water would flow away from the homes. Relief isn't projected for several homes until late Tuesday.
Rising water levels caused a problem for some boaters at Utah Lake Sunday. As the boaters were leaving the area via Boat Harbor Road, 6000 West in American Fork, a massive sinkhole swallowed their sport utility vehicle, said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon.
The large SUV was pulling a boat when the road washed out beneath it, leaving a 30-foot-by-12-foot sinkhole in its place. The SUV's occupants were unhurt.
Fill dirt along the edge of a recently completed culvert on the lake may have given way, said Cannon, but investigators are still trying to determine what happened.
"It's not in the main flow of the water, so we don't know what caused it to sink," he said.
The road was immediately closed to all traffic while the truck was removed and damages assessed. Cannon said the road isn't expected to be reopened until later today.
Dispatchers and officials in Cache, Weber and Washington counties, all areas under flood watch, said they knew of no serious problems in their areas, although rivers and reservoirs were reported to be at or above their banks.
The National Weather Service said moderate flooding was occurring on the Sevier River, from the headwaters to Piute Reservoir. Major flooding was forecast, with water 1.1 feet above flood stage predicted for 5 a.m. Tuesday.
The Sevier and its tributaries in Iron, Garfield, Piute and Kane counties were expected to continue to be flooding for several days. "Agricultural land will be inundated from Hatch (Garfield County) to Piute Reservoir," the Weather Service warned.
In southern Wyoming, the Bear River was expected to flood early today at Evanston, reaching half a foot above flood stage.
"Monitor children that are near rivers and creeks," says the National Weather Service statement, because water at this time of year is cold, swift and dangerous.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com,