Flooding
There has been a lot of talk and planning statewide for the possibility of flooding after a record breaking season of snow. You can do your part to protect your property by clearing your home’s storm drains and grates of leaves and debris. Additionally, a change in landscaping may have altered your yard drainage as well. It's important to check for low areas in your yard or areas that slope towards your home. Also, remember to keep yourself, children and pets away from flooded rivers and streams, and don’t drive through flooded streets.
Additional tips can be found at https://beready.utah.gov/utah-hazards/flood/.
Our staff is busy making preparations to keep people and property safe in case of flooding. As the snow has been melting, you will see the streets and stormwater team clear the streets with the street sweepers and the stormwater inlets.
We also recently acquired additional sandbags to add to our stock. If the need for sandbag distribution arises, we will send out emergency notifications via Everbridge and our social media channels. You can sign up for Everbridge notifications by visiting alerts.utahcounty.gov.
A Message from Mayor Fullmer on flooding
“While all of the rain and record-breaking snowpack is helping us in the current drought condition, Vineyard is staying ahead of potential flooding. Vineyard crews recently updated our sandbag stock to bolster our current inventory, identified sand lots for fill, and are actively working on flood prevention by clearing debris off streets and away from stormwater inlet systems.
Our engineering team has made themselves available to residents with general guidance on grading concerns for private lots and modifications to yards in order to drain properly. Residents can help by keeping the streets and drains free from debris and calling to alert the city of any blocked drains. +1 (801) 226-1929.
While we feel Vineyard City has the resources we need to ensure the city’s ability to weather the storms, we are grateful to our residents for preparing their households. Please refer to our emergency preparedness plan to prepare your family and home for all types of emergencies, including flooding. It can be found here: https://vineyardutah.org/DocumentCenter/View/3132/EMP-Plan
To our neighboring cities that suffer during the flash flooding season, we understand that you may need help even with preparations. Let us know how we can help! We worked with several communities a few years ago to deploy people, help with deliveries, and volunteer trucks for fill.
Our engineer doesn’t expect city-wide flooding. The canal trail section by the Lakefront may flood due to rainwater dumping into the storm drain and through the canal. However, we have the resources to handle this situation and will post signage for safety if this occurs. Our staff anticipates the detention ponds to fill with some water, but only as they are designed to do. The water should be gone about 72-96 hours after the rain stops. Additionally, the detention ponds will be muddy, so cars that park in them may get stuck, and the city advises against parking there in those conditions.
The major areas of concern are street storm water inlets blocked by vegetation and debris left by construction companies and homeowners, as well as individual backyards of homeowners with improper landscaping. Improper landscaping engineering may cause water to drain toward houses into basements. Similarly, blocked drains in patio areas near home entrances can increase the likelihood for flooding. Last year several homes were in need of pumps due to this. Water ditches for irrigation surrounding farming lots (such as the Clegg farm) may experience overflow and drain into neighboring lawns. This typically comes from irrigation methods. However, it can occur during heavy rainfall.
Vineyard has 2,000 sand bags that can be filled for resident use if they have flooding issues. We will make residents aware of volunteer opportunities for filling sandbags.
Vineyard and surrounding cities are operating under similar systems and are ready to handle projected issues that would impose health and safety risks to the public. As far as multi-jurisdictional locations are concerned: Orem’s Lakeside Park has a detention basin operated by Orem City that has the potential to affect neighboring houses. There have been some improvements made to prevent over spilling. Additionally, 250 West, between the Animal Control and our 2000 North and the outflow receives water from Pleasant Grove, Lindon and Orem. There will probably be some flooding in this area. However, Vineyard will monitor and report and assist these jurisdictions in handling the area if the situation arises. Thank you for taking precautions to be ready and prepared for emergency situations.”