Heavy rain through Provo burn scar forces road closures, but all homes safe

PROVO, Utah — Heavy rain over the last 24 hours forced the closure of Provo roads as water was sent through the burn scar left after the Buckley Draw Fire.

Slate Canyon Drive and Nevada Avenue were closed by Provo officials on Monday. Nevada Avenue will remain closed overnight, and crews will return Tuesday morning to clean up the debris.

While the roads were closed, the city said all homes are safe from flooding "thanks to preventive measures."

Last month, a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel took the brunt of a mudslide that followed the Buckley Draw Fire, with feet of mud making its way inside the building.

Even though the area was a muddy mess for much of the day, Provo city officials say this was a pretty good “dry run” for how things should work in future rain events.

They said the debris flow was much smaller and went where it was supposed to go: into the public right of way and not into any homes or neighborhoods.

Provo city officials have been working closely with the developer to add two basins and new channels for any future debris flows.

“This one didn’t carry near the load or near the capacity," said Provo City Public Works director Gordon Haight. "So in reality, we’ve got about three years where we’re going to work through this before the burn scar heals up where we are going to have to watch this very closely. After that time... once the scar is gone, we can have much higher rain intensity than what we experienced today and there’ll be no effect.”

Haight says they will be keeping a really close eye on the weather over the next couple of weeks because there could be some early season fall rain in the forecast.