Memories of the Flood of 83, Lynn Larsen

It was an exciting time with everyone pulling together and the priesthood having assignments for a 24 hour watch in the ward and stake wherever Barton Creek crossed under a road. The grates on the upstream side had to be kept clear of any debris. There was also constant sandbagging and cleanup.

But the big event for part of our ward was on May 31 when a mudslide came down. We had been down to Sevier County putting flowers on graves the day before. On our return trip we were stopped in Gunnison because the Sanpitch river was flooding over the bridge where Highway 89 crossed. It had been running high in the morning but was not a problem. We had to return back to Salina and go over to Scipio to get to Nephi. We arrived home late because of the detour and the family was in the back on the patio at about 11:00 p.m. when we heard a big boom (which we learned later was the mudslide taking out the transformer station at 1300 East) and the power went out. We wondered what had happened as we started a gas lantern. Then we could hear a roaring noise to the east and hear people yelling and screaming above the sound. It sounded very close. With all of the flooding already going on we thought maybe Stone Creek might have changed its course and was coming down the very old stream bed between 250 and 200 North just east of us. My son Karl, who was 13, and I got on a motorcycle and went to see if it looked like we were in immediate danger. We turned left on 600 East and as we crossed 250 North everything looked fine but when we got to 350 North the mudflow was already there. It was the consistency of cement that had too much water added. The group described by Susan Stapley had apparently gotten out just minutes before we were there and made it out just in time. Having been out of town, we hadn't heard of any evacuation notice. The slurry was just oozing along so we turned down 350 at 600 East it was deep enough to come up just past the bottom of the engine but it was less deep as we went along. We went up and down knocking on doors but most were not home, apparently having left when Stapley's did. When we got to Byron and Linda Horne's, the mud was only a few inches deep and they were hurrying around getting some items and themselves into the station wagon. Several of us helped push the car back into the street and they headed down around the corner to the west and out of our sight. I'm sure they didn't make it very far since Susan Stapley said 400 North was already not an option and they couldn't turn around and go back up 350 North which by then was a sea of mud from gutter to gutter. We found out later that they had to abandon the station wagon until the next day. We helped whoever we could and rode back up to 600 east on the sidewalk which was still high and dry. 250 North still looked like nothing was happening just one block away. We went home and went to bed and found out the rest of the details the next day.