Cleanup begins after floodwater damages Orem apartments

Water broke through several condos in an Orem apartment complex Tuesday evening, leaving some with a big mess

Published: Aug 15, 2024, 1:18 p.m. MDT

Javier Matos hugs his wife, Shannon Matos, while items from their apartment lie before them after flood damage occurred the night before at Stonebrook Condominiums in Orem on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. Isaac Hale, Deseret News

By Brian Carlson, KSL-TV

Homeowners are beginning the process of cleaning up after water broke through several condos in an Orem apartment complex Tuesday evening, leaving some with an unimaginable mess.

Plank by plank, homeowner Andrew Gill is ripping out his kitchen flooring ruined in the flooding.

“It mostly stayed in the main area and the hallway,” Gill said.

Gill lives on the first floor of the Stonebrook Condominiums in Orem, slammed by the flooding. Cellphone video showed how fast the water came running down the hill, filling up stairwells in the condos below and spilling through into their homes.

“It got up to about here. You can see the water line right there,” Gill said, pointing to a spot on his door.

Fortunately for him, most of the water stayed outside. His Ring doorbell camera captured the moment the flood water rushed in. It eventually filled his entire stairwell with water and hail, half-way up the door. The pressure was so intense it burst open his next-door neighbor’s door, filling their entire apartment with water 3-feet high.

“I managed to get out of the house about 30 seconds before it happened,” Gill said.

Other neighbors got word as it was happening, and dozens rushed over to help remove the water from their homes.

‘It was pretty intense’

Jackson Knapp, right, and Brayden Wilcock, both of Lindon, help move a shelf from an apartment after flood damage occurred the night before at Stonebrook Condominiums in Orem on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

“We were trying to throw as many (sump) pumps into it as we could, we had bucket lines coming out of it, it was pretty intense,” said neighbor Rylee Tervort.

Gill is grateful they were there.

“It was awesome. I’d still be pumping water out if it was just me here on my own,” he said.

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Even though he’s facing thousands of dollars in water damage, he’s feels fortunate he wasn’t hit as bad others.

“I don’t know how I only ended up with a couple inches in this apartment, I got so lucky,” Gill said.

Cleaning it up one wet plank at a time.

Some of the families lost a lot of their belongings, some couldn’t sleep in the homes last night the water was so high and the damage so severe.