ST. GEORGE — The southwest Utah area along the border between Utah and Arizona was inundated with flash floods after a torrential downpour on Sunday night.
A large thunderstorm rained down more than an inch of water throughout the area, forcing a local state of emergency to be declared.
St. George Police Officer Tiffany Atkin told residents to stay inside and away from the flooded streets.
“Due to the volume of residences flooding and vehicles stranded due to impassable roadways, most tow services are tied up,” the department reported on Twitter shortly after 10 p.m. “The 911 call center is receiving a large number of 911 and other calls for assistance. Please only call 911 or the dispatch line if there is a life safety issue.”
Homes throughout the region reported flooding and some student housing around Dixie State University had to be evacuated, The Spectrum reported.
On Monday, Mayor Jon Pike said officials still don’t know the extent of the damage, but that it seems the central part of the city was hit the hardest. The St. George Police Department said it took over 600 calls related to the flooding — from sinkholes, to landslides and power issues.
“This hit so quickly and so hard,” he said. “Here in the desert there’s just a lot of quick runoff that happens, comes off hills and down our streets and a lot of debris and a fair bit of damage, with some walls failing and a couple of sinkholes.”
Dixie State student Megan Hurst, of Lehi, said Monday that once the waters started coming in the Red Mountain apartments they were up to the doorknob within about 10 to 15 minutes.
“Everyone was helping us out,” she said, adding residents on the upper floors came down “and they were helping us grab stuff, and they offered us a place to stay. Everyone slept on air mattresses last night.”
Hurst, whose first day of college was supposed to be Monday, said most of her belongings are still inside the apartment.
“I grabbed a pillow, blanket, toothbrush and a laptop. That’s about all I could really grab, and everything else is destroyed.”
Hurst said she and her roommates are still not sure when the apartments will be habitable again and she doesn’t think their insurance will cover flooding. For now she’s staying with a friend.
Officials believe a large sinkhole outside a hotel swallowed a car. Cars traveling along I-15 sank nearly to their windows from the flooding. A downed power line shut off power in some places.
Gov. Gary Herbert and Jess Anderson, commissioner of Public Safety traveled to the area Monday to view the damage and promised to help residents pick up the pieces.
The area hadn’t received any significant precipitation the entire summer.
Contributing: Mike Anderson
