SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah — With remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel expected to bring significant rain to Utah, authorities in Morgan and Summit County are keeping an especially close eye on burn scars left behind by the Rocky Canyon Fire.
"A couple busy weeks, right?” said Erica White, the Morgan County emergency manager. “All back behind me here is completely burned, this is the biggest canyon we're concerned about just because of runoff after."
Just about a month ago, a canyon right off Highway 66 in Morgan County was blackened by the Rocky Canyon Fire which left behind acres of burn scars.
Utah under Flood Watch as remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel move in:
Although grass has regrown on this land, it still poses a danger, especially when days-long rainstorms, like what's expected, come through.
"Unfortunately, the grass is young, and it's fairly fresh, the rain still slides right past it and we do still have that burn stage brush, the oak, things like that, up there that are not holding up the rain,” said White.
The concerns are the same deeper into the mountains on the Summit County side, where burn scars line the mountains just outside of the town of Henefer.
"Grass naturally holds the water back a little bit, but the bigger concern is not just the flooding but the landslides that could happen from it as well because there's not those root systems in the ground to hold that dirt in place,” said Tyler Rowser, a battalion chief at the North Summit Fire District.
With remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel expected to make its way to Utah towards the end of the weekend, first responders are keeping a closer eye on the burn scars.
"We're going to do our normal thing of being prepared for flooding and landslides, monitoring this area a little more closely than we normally would during those times,” said Rowser.
Ever since Morgan County's identified a canyon as the biggest risk for flooding, they've been building a new path for water to flow into a nearby creek while taking measures to try to keep Highway 66 open.
"We do have some prestation sandbags, like our fire department is on alert so if we do start to get some flooding in homes or across the road here that they can come up and provide some manpower to help with that as well,” said White.
White said areas with burn scars can remain a risk for flooding or landslides for close to two to three years.
The Morgan County Emergency Management Agency said it will post updates on its social media platforms throughout the storm.