City Hall’s emergency manager said late on Monday officials had been told of one flooding episode inside Park City as the cold, wet weather pattern remained planted in the region, heightening concerns that there could be further flooding later in the spring.
Hugh Daniels, who manages the municipal government’s emergency programs, said the Monday episode was minor and involved a section of a parking lot outside the Prospector Hotel. Daniels said willow branches were pulled into the Silver Creek waterway and then swept downstream. The branches eventually became lodged in the waterway, creating the effect of a dam. A crew from the Public Works Department was dispatched to remove the willow branches, Daniels said.
Meanwhile, Daniels reported, City Hall received a complaint from someone on Keystone Court, a small street off Payday Drive, who was worried that water in a ditch could overflow. Daniels said there had not been flooding at the location, though.
Daniels said city crews had not put out sandbags since there had not been problems other than the parking lot in Prospector. He said the workers had filled 1,500 sandbags. There was enough sand on hand to fill another 3,500 bags if they were needed, Daniels said.
The water in Silver Creek, commonly referred to as Poison Creek within Park City, appeared to be at or near its high point of the spring on Monday.
The recent weather pattern, which dropped another layer of snow on the area before the rainstorms at the lower elevations on Monday, has increased the snowpack at a time when the snow has typically started to melt.
Brian McInerney, a National Weather Service hydrologist who closely monitors the snowpack in the region, said a measuring station in the Thaynes Canyon area of Park City Mountain Resort Monday morning recorded a snowpack reading of 150 percent of normal for this time of year. A few weeks ago, the reading was 140 percent of what is normal. The station measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack.
Other data in the region early in the week included:
There have been fears that there could be flooding if the snowpack did not melt a little at a time, starting with the snow at the lower elevations as warmer weather set in followed by the snow at the higher elevations.
McInerney said the weather patterns in the spring have not allowed the melting to occur in that manner. He said the snowpack should have started fading in early April if the melting was occurring in that fashion.
“Our margin of error is getting smaller every day we don’t melt the snow in an orderly fashion,” he said, adding that he expected more precipitation and colder than normal weather this week.
McInerney said the threat of flooding in Summit County is highest along the Weber River near Oakley. He is also concerned that water could leak into basements throughout Summit County based on the amount of water in the snowpack. Meanwhile, he sees there being a flooding threat along the routes of Silver Creek and McLeod Creek, both covering terrain inside Park City.
The Public Works Department has made sandbags available to Park City residents and businesses. Up to 25 filled ones are available without charge. Additional sandbags are available for 75 cents per bag. They are available at the Public Works Building, 1053 Iron Horse Drive. For more information or to report a flood in Park City, call the department at 615-5301 during daytime hours. At night and on the weekends, call the Police Department, 615-5500, to report floods.
The Summit County Public Works Department, meanwhile, has provided sand and bags for people to fill. There is a 25-bag limit for people wanting filled bags. They are available at: