By the time we awoke Saturday morning, the water that had been partway to the road was now as far as it could go in it's path to the road. We noticed more holes that the water was going down into, creating the same "toilet bowl" effect. One of these was at the road end of the canal. It was amazing to see how much water was going toward the road, but not crossing the road. Traffic on this road was very heavy for a Saturday. People were every bit as fascinated as we were with the fact that there was a large volume of water running in a place it had not run since 1983 or 1984. When we asked about a "plan" for the water, knowing it could not cross the road easily, we were told simply that there "was no plan". And when we expressed our concerns about the amount of water disappearing into mysterious holes in the ground, we were assured that the water was just filling in the cracks and crevices.
Within 24 hours, water filled the entire wash and had run all the way to the road.
The floodwater managed to create a very picturesque waterfall.
The water on the right is running in from the flooded orchard. The water exiting to the right is heading toward the waterfall and the wash.
Water pooling around the trees in the orchard
Floodwaters in the orchard
View of orchard water feeding into canal, and then into wash.
As soon as the backhoe began driving across the neighbor's rain soaked yard, it began to slide
into the old wash. It took some skill to get out of there!
This video starts out sideways showing a sideways view of the water in the canal itself, then turns upright as the canal is breached.
I was pretty shocked that someone would come onto
private property and empty water onto their land. The neighbors were not at home, and it took another neighbor finding the phone number where Vonna worked, and calling here there to let her know what was going on. The company who breached the canal never did inform the owners of the land.
This is the view of the water rushing from the canal, into the old wash. I simply could not believe the amount of water that as coming. I assumed that once the canal had emptied, the flow would stop. I was wrong. The flow of water has not once stopped or slowed.
In a matter of an hou, this is how full this wash was. Keep in mind, we are talking about an 8 to 10 foot drop to the bottom. That is a LOT of water.
No plan was made for the water, once it was emptied into the wash, and a trench was dug toward the road. One kind nieghbor, Mike Fowers, seeing that the water may very well reach the road and go around the berm, brought two loads of dirt to use as another berm. Following that, some of Dale Davenport's grown boys brought up sandbags as well.
Signs were put up, declaring this as a flood area. I guess if flooding means "water purpously diverted to end up on your neighbor's property" then it is now a flood area.
The canal was breached just after 2:00 pm. By evening 7:00 pm) the water had completely filled the wash, and was now heading toward the road.
As the water headed toward the road, we began to see a disturbing sight. Water was going down into the ground in a "toilet bowl effect". We were repeatedly assured it as just filling in all the nooks and crannies in the part of the wash we had filled.
After breaching the canal, this large track hoe was bought in (again before our neighbor was informed) and used to dig a very large trench from the old wash to the road. It used the dirt to create a berm, in case the water got too high.
Just a shot of the track hoe, showing just how large it really was.
When Chris, our neighbor got home to find part of his yard full of water, and another part of his yard ripped apart, he was "not sure who to be angry at". Possibly, the breaching of he canal had saved his home from flooding. The problem now is - will the breaching of the canal still end up with the same result. Once the waters begin to run full force, will his home still flood?
On Friday the 20th, flood waters from a man made reservoir in Santaquin reached our neighbor's property in Genola. I had heard voices outside, and had taken my young son upstairs to watch out the window. To try and figure out what was going on. We watched as a large track hoe crossed our yard and drove next door. Our neighbors were both at work, so we grabbed a camera, interested in documenting what was going on with the property. You see, for the first 15 years we lived in Genola, it had been our property. The old canal that ran around the back of the property rarely saw any water. There had been stories about the flooding in 1983, but in all the time we had owned that land, we never saw anything like we have seen this year.
I am putting this blog together to document the progression of a flood. Hopefully it will show how the waters entered Genola, how willing friends and neighbors stepped in to fill sandbags and dig trenches, and let people who are concerned about the flooding know what the current status of the water is. Where it has reached, who is being affected, perhaps even who could use assistance.
The spirit of Genola is truly "Neighbor helping Neighbor"
Let me start by posting some of my favorite pictures - these came even before the waters hit
our town. As people of all ages, and from every side of town pitched in
