Governor Cox visits Enoch to survey flood damage, meet with officials & residents

ENOCH, Utah — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox met with Enoch City officials on Monday to survey damaged areas from extreme flash flooding that took place on Aug 1.

“It was a direct hit,” Cox about the band of storms moving through Iron County. “Then we started seeing the videos with social media; the videos were almost immediate, and walls of water were washing through the town, roads that weren’t roads anymore — they were more like rivers.”

Along with Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Jess Anderson, Cox met with city leaders to discuss infrastructure and try to find ways to prevent flood damage in the future.

“Enoch is now competing for drywall and windows and lumber and all of those things that are necessary to restore carpet, get those basements back to normal, so that’s going to take time and that’s where again we can really use any help we can get from the private sector,” said Cox, who admits that the government can only provide so much assistance.

Most of the damage done to homes will need to be worked through by residents and their insurance companies. According to the City of Enoch, anyone who sustained damage in their home solely from the sewer backup, may submit their claim on the city’s website. If they meet the criteria, the city’s insurance company will distribute the $100,000 coverage in an equal amount to all of those impacted by sewage.

FOX 13 spoke with numerous residents on Monday who are still trying to clean up and rebuild after the flood from eight days prior.

“It was absolutely devastating, I mean in our backyard we flooded, we lost a couple of chickens, our greenhouse got flooded, inside the house though was 100 percent backup sewer from the city,” said Enoch resident Saber Cape, who mentioned that her children’s bedroom was in the basement level. “My basement -- we can’t even walk down into. We had to remove the steps that even got sewer water onto them. We’re just trying to make do with what we have. We’re moving all three of kids into one room and just living upstairs until we can figure it out.”

Another Enoch resident of 11 years is thankful for the support she’s gotten from neighbors, friends, family and even random strangers who have come to Iron County to offer a helping hand.

“It’s a weird feeling because of have a ton of people willing to help but you feel like you lost part of your life, like your safe place, your home,” said Shallon Engle. “It’s heartbreaking, but without the community and family and friends, it would have been 10 times worse.”

Cox says with the current shortage in certain supplies, Enoch is now competing for construction materials such as drywall, windows and lumber. He’s thankful for those in the private sector that have given their time and money to help the town of Enoch rebuild and recover from the flooding.

“No one has lost everything because so many people are here giving and helping to give back and that’s made a huge difference,” Cox said.