PROVO, Utah — Acknowledging that hard lessons were learned and will be used to better prepare for the future, Provo City officials on Friday addressed the recent wildfire and mudslides in the area.
Following a fire and debris flow in the city in 2003, Provo thought they were prepared. But just days after last month’s Buckley Draw Fire was extinguished, Mother Nature threw the city a curveball with a once-in-a-10-year storm that dumped nearly an inch of rain on the burn scar in less than 30 minutes.
The result was a 15-acre debris flow down the hillside.
“I don’t think anyone is gonna forget that any day soon," admitted Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi.
A Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel took the brunt of the mudslide, leading to an almost immediate response from dozens of neighbors, including the mayor, who jumped into action with shovels and other equipment to help clear the building.
“Had this event happened two months later rather than 10 days later, we would have been able to handle it," Kaufusi said. "She just unleashed on us.”
'Bucket Brigade' of volunteers helps clear Provo church after mudslide:
A delay would have been beneficial because work was set to begin on a larger and sturdier mitigation system to deal with bigger storm and debris flows. That work is now set to begin in just over a week.
“Now, in the future, could we have a much bigger event? Yes, but this is the probability that design and standards say we should be able to protect our residents from," explained Gordon Haight with Provo City Public Works.
There is so much technical information about what happened, why it happened and Provo’s plan moving forward, that the city is making those details available to anyone through an online portal.
