PINE VALLEY, Utah — Heavy rain in Pine Valley continues to cause flash flood concerns.
"It's like something I haven't really seen in my life," said Ryan Atkin, sitting in the passenger seat of a side-by-side with his family, visiting from Denver, Colorado.
Fitting that someone who comes from a place of high elevation sees what low-lying flood waters can do.
Meanwhile, for Jodi Herpel a few blocks over, her storm story began with a canceled church service Saturday night.
"We all need to leave now because the storm is coming and we might not make it home," she recalled on her back porch as strong winds blew through her hair.
From a weekend flood warning to a watch, they're seeing the clouds sticking around and rain continuing to fall in their rural community.
"They're really worried about the road being flooded again, and this has happened for five years," Herpel said.
She points to memories of mountain fires and left behind burn scars
"My father lost his house to that fire where 13 houses were burned down," she said.
"We knew we were going to get a lot of water. We were surprised by how much that came actually," said Pine Valley Fire Chief Robert Hardy, taking a break from a CPR class in St. George.
Pine Valley's fire chief sees the lasting impact of those fires on current flood mitigation efforts.
"I've lived up there for several years and I've never seen the water overflow the road like that but it's because of the burn and the burn scar that's changed the dynamics of everything," he said.
But they are seeing the benefits of recent builds to help slow floodwaters.
"It's working right now up in the east side where the fires happened. They've built four different ponds and a really big creek with a lot of rocks," Herpel said.
As the storm continues, she said a legit bridge is needed.
"Really, the only concern is that road because nobody can go anywhere if it goes out," she said.
Pine Valley's fire chief said they have a good relationship with Washington County, so they're aware of the need, and he was in St. George talking to county commissioners about the need for a proper bridge.
"That part of the project was not included in the mitigation efforts at the federal and state level. He said it's something they'll look into. He can't make any promises. He doesn't know how expensive that will be to put in a larger box culvert there to mitigate that."