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Canal breach leads to flooding in Garden City homes, roads

Posted at 11:33 AM, Feb 10, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-10 19:31:59-05

GARDEN CITY, Utah — A lot of homes near Bear Lake are flooded after a canal breach overnight.

People living in Garden City and other nearby areas in Rich County have spent the day sandbagging, hoping to prevent any further damage with more rain and snow expected overnight.

Mike Leonhardt got the call from his church around 6:30 Friday morning asking for help.

"We just sent out a call to everyone in the community and you can see the turnout we got," Leonhardt said.

Twenty guys came out with their trucks full of sandbags, ready to work.

"The canal right here below us is starting to breach here, breaching down further, so we're just trying to slow the flow down," Leonhardt said.

Most of them live in the area, so you would think they would be worried about their own homes.

"No, I think I'm far enough way. Just concerned about all of the neighbor's homes," Leonhardt said.

A lot of the neighbors haven't made it out yet to see the damage, but Jill Sparrow came out with her husband after getting a call form their security company early Friday morning when their alarm went off because of all the water in their home.

"We have at least two or three feet of water in our basement, and at this point it's still gushing in the back window and just floating through," Sparrow said.

Sparrow isn't too worried, though, especially since this is their vacation home.

"This is just water," she said. "Nothing that can’t be repaired. We do feel really blessed."

With a tight-knit community like they have in Garden City, you know there's help just around the corner.

"That's the good thing about these small communities. Everybody watches out for everybody. It's a nice place to live," Leonhardt said.

Emergency Management does recommend that anyone who has homes in the area, make their way out this weekend to assess the damage and sandbag around their property.

Roads in Box Elder and Cache counties have been affected by flooding as well, leading to closures and advisories.