SOUTH WEBER — Stacy Clark is expecting to deliver her fifth child at any time. What she didn’t expect to hear was that she may have to find a place for her family to stay if the Weber River fills up the Staker Parson gravel pit.
The pit is west of U.S. 89 and south of Interstate 84, just one block east of her home.
Davis County Sheriff’s Emergency Management and state officials are asking those living near the gravel pit to have 72-hour kits ready and a place to go should the Weber River break through the berm and fill the pit.
“The state is very concerned because of the potential danger for flooding,” said Joe Dougherty, spokesman for the Utah Division of Emergency Management.
County officials are monitoring a small breach in the land that separates the Weber River and the gravel pit.
“If the river breaks through, the engineers have told us it will take only 18 hours to fill the pit with the river running as high as it is,” said Davis County Sheriff’s Sgt. Susan Poulsen.
Officials are uncertain if the water in the gravel pit is coming from the river or from a canal pipe, said Poulsen, who was designated to speak for the county, South Weber City and the private company.
Crews turned off the water from the pipe Tuesday, but water is still visible.
“We don’t know if it is the river or if it is just residual from the pipe,” Poulsen said.
But if it is water from Weber River and the pit fills up, the water will continue moving west, down South Weber Drive, around surrounding areas to about 475 East.
Between 30 and 50 homes, including the Clark home, could be flooded.
Officials said, if necessary, they may evacuate 200 homes in the area to keep residents safe.
“We really have nowhere to go,” Clark said as she walked from her home on the road past a rock house built shortly after South Weber was settled.
However, she said she isn’t too concerned about the leak.
“I’m sure Staker Parson will get it fixed,” Clark said.
East of the rock house is the home where Clark grew up and where her father still lives. Fisherman’s Trail separates her father’s home from the gravel pit. At the northwest corner of the gravel pit, Staker Parson crews could be seen working to fix the leak Wednesday.
Staker Parson officials contacted the county about the leak Friday, Poulsen said. County went to the privately owned area, which has “No Trespassing” signs posted around its perimeter, to inspect the leak Monday. State officials were called in Tuesday.
The leak caused a landslide of about 100 feet of material, Poulsen said.
Between 20 and 25 people from Staker Parson have worked around the clock to stabilize the area, she said.
Concrete and gravel trucks continued coming in and out of the pit for business all day Wednesday.
Sean Swedin, who lives next to Clark, said when he returned home from work at 1 a.m. Wednesday, he heard machines working in the pit.
“I was going to call the city this morning and complain because Parsons isn’t supposed to run equipment at night.”
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