Memories of the 1983 Flood by Robert "Bob" Hatch.

One of the interesting discoveries of this ward history project has been to learn how intimately and significantly the 1983 flood impacted ward members who lived here at the time. I received a telephone call from Sharon Hatch asking if I might be interested in the account of the flood that her husband, Bob, wrote as part of his larger life history. Of course I was interested and believed that others would be as well.

Sharon, thank you for sharing your family's experience with the rest of us.

1983

Flooding in Davis County and across the state continued to spread with the rising waters which were brought about by the hot days and warm May nights. This caused the high mountain snows to melt fast. Flooding on one of Bountiful's three major creeks was now threatening many homes and blocking streets in a 30 block area. Barton Creek went on a rampage Saturday, May 28, 1983 with the creek running two or three times higher than most people could remember. Barton Creek washed out a 200 foot by 60 foot section of Lakeview Drive, spilling debris into the channel and blocking the creek at several points downstream.

On the night of May 31st, at 10:45 P.M. in the wake of a deluge unleashed from high on the mountain side, above Bountiful, a 25 to 30 foot wall of water, loaded with mud and debris, apparently pushed its way from behind a plugged conduit and rushed down Stone Creek, inundating a large section of the city. The crest of the flood flattened as it thundered down the mountain side, sending water into streets on both sides of the creek bed and rushing down to the center of Bountiful.

Shawn and Lon were asleep, I was watching the news and sleeping some, and Sharon was washing her hair. Chad came to Sharon and said he heard a rumbling noise, and looked outside to see if he could see anything. Within minutes, a police car came down the street with a loud speaker telling everyone to evacuate. Chad again looked outside and saw water, mud and large boulders going down the street.

The sound of that loud speaker woke me up. Sharon told me what was going on and we grabbed a few things we would need for the night. We got the kids in the car and were ready to leave. As we were about to back out of the garage, Shawn ran back into the house and got into his bed. Sharon went back inside to get Shawn. Now with our family in the car we pulled out of the driveway and began driving up the street as water, mud and large boulders were coming towards us. We slowly made our way over to Dad and Mom Chatterley's house and told them what happened. We got the boys down for the night. Sharon's father went with me down to my mother's house to make sure Mom was safe, We later found out Ron had come and took Mom to his house.

The next day, Wednesday, June 1st, Bountiful looked like a war zone with the mud and debris in the streets. The Governor called out the National Guard, to do traffic control as M.P., and help with the clean up and check for more signs of flooding. The National Guardsmen were also posted at various neighbors, only letting the people who lived their in. Ours was one of these neighbors. It felt very strange having to check in to go to your own house.

A few years before this happened in Bountiful, the Teton Dam gave way in Rexburg and Sugar City, Idaho. The members in the Salt Lake and Bountiful area came to their aid and went up and helped clean up. So, when the news about Bountiful was released and people in Rexburg and Sugar City heard about what happened, in no time, volunteers' were here to help.

Sharon's sister, Kathy, was getting married on June 8th to Larry Carlson in the Salt Lake Temple. Sharon and her sisters, Kristine, Janice, and the sisters of the ward, which was the ward that Janice was living in at the time, had hand quilted a Queen-sized quilt for the wedding. Sharon had brought the quilt to our house to bind it. When Kristine and Janice found out about the flood coming down our street they were concerned about our safety and wanted to make sure that the quilt was safe and not damaged. Our family and the quilt were both safe.

The family didn't stay at the house for several nights, but I decided to sleep at the house. On my days off, I cleaned up the mud in our park strip and on the sidewalks and helped remove mud from a house on the corner of 400 North and 600 East. On the Sunday following the mud slide and flood, we only had Sacrament Meeting as flood danger was still great in the area and anyone able was asked to help fill and place sand bags along Barton Creek and Stone Creek.