BEAVER, Utah — Crews hope to restore safe drinking water to most of Beaver in the coming days after severe flooding washed out parts of the local water system.
On Monday, volunteers at Beaver City Hall worked to ensure community members had the drinking water they needed.
"Utah is amazing, and people are just reaching out left and right, left and right," said Beaver resident Dacie Derbidge.
Derbidge is helping coordinate volunteers after the floods roared through the area, and helping neighbors get much-needed supplies.
“We can't cook our food, right? Because [of] everything, we can't drink our water. So people are worried about that," said Derbidge.
Beaver City Mayor Matt Robinson is hopeful the city will be able to address the damage and provide clean water to most residents in the next 48 hours. But for those in the hard-hit Grove area, it’s likely to be even longer, up to two weeks.
“We need to repair the system that was washed out, put it back together, and then there's a whole series of water safety issues that we have to follow to make sure that we're delivering safe water," Robinson explained.
Governor Spencer Cox pledged state support to help Beaver rebuild after the catastrophic flash flooding. Cox said he has been speaking with community leaders about the flooding that he said "was bigger than anybody anticipated."
"I said, 'You’re going to have a couple of weeks of hell with this fire, and then you’re going to have five-to-six years of hell with everything that comes after it.' We knew the rains would come; they always do. We were expecting something like this. You just never know how big it’s going to be," Gov. Cox said.
Cox explained how Utah's Division of Emergency Management and other state agencies are already responding, and the state has also been in communication with FEMA for relief.
As the city works to repair the damage, the mayor reminded those whose taps are still running that they can bathe and wash their hands, but avoid drinking the water or cooking with it.
As for Derbidge, she stressed how important it is to continue working together, especially with more rain in the forecast.
“Beaver is important to all of us," she said. “It's important for us to help each other, you know? Something I've talked about all for the past couple of weeks is neighbors helping neighbors, and that's just what we do. We have neighbors helping neighbors."
