ROSE PARK, Utah — It’s been nearly two weeks since torrential rains caused massive flooding in one, Rose Park neighborhood.
And with more rain on the way, residents there are hoping it doesn’t happen again.
Many folks are still cleaning up after the last storm and flooding event.
There are sandbags and water pumps visible all along Sir Phillip Drive.
And while many there are keeping a watchful eye on the sky, some of those same folks are telling Fox 13 News there’s actually been a silver lining.
First, 19 year Rose Park resident Jannisha Peres sums up the last big storm that hit her street.
“It was a mess!
Water just kept on coming in through the front, through the back.”
“We were just stuck at home, water kept coming up and coming up and coming up.
Basements were flooded, everywhere.”
Several days later, Jannisha and most of her neighbors like Diego Gonzalez, are still trying to clean up and dry out.
“We already got all the stuff out of the rooms.
But right now we’re just trying to clean out all the trash that got wet and re-organize everything.
And for the others, our neighbors, they’re doing the same as well.”
But with more rain in the forecast, folks like Rex Arcia are more than a little concerned.
“But I’ve been taking my precautions, kept the sandbags around, hopefully all the drains have been cleared and the water can flow where it needs to.
So I’m just staying hopeful.”
Despite the mess…along with the time, money and effort to deal with the cleanup…Jannisha and the others say there was something unexpected and positive that happened here along one of the most culturally diverse streets in the Salt Lake Valley.
“Somehow, that day we all spoke the same language.
Some of it was an English, some of it was in Spanish or Mandarin, but we all spoke one language that same day everybody helped each other.”
Diego Gonzalez agrees.
“It was nice seeing that everyone was helping each other out.
Like at some point, our neighbor and that neighbor started helping this guy out and the neighbor across they brought a water pump and it was so nice to have help around.”
Rex Arcia says the flooding and cleanup temporarily forced him out of his home and out of his comfort zone.
“I’m a bit of a homebody, but when push came to shove like the neighborhood came together, and knocked on my door, introduced themselves, helped me out whatever I needed them to do.
So I definitely got to be more community focused now.”
And those we spoke with also wanting to thank local members of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints who helped take the lead and organize a lot of the early stages of the cleanup.
