In response to a request from Weber County, Gov. Gary Herbert on Tuesday authorized an additional $200,000 in emergency funding to combat local flooding, according to a news release from the governor's office.
The announcement of more funds to help with construction of a temporary access road -- as well as a giant crane, trucks and steel posts, which the crane will drive into the ground to create a metal curtain to reinforce the levee -- came as emergency crews were running out of options for dealing with the flood.
Weber County emergency officials were taking a break from the levee break -- at least on Tuesday.
The levee, near 5900 West and 400 North in Warren, initially broke last week.
One-ton sandbags were airlifted into place Friday by Utah National Guard helicopters, but by Sunday, not even those sandbags that were reinforced with thick steel fencing and metal pipes could keep the water from spilling out of the Weber River into a small nearby canal and flooding fields.
After the latest break, officials are turning their focus from levee repair to much-needed work to repair the washed-out dirt road that had been used to access the levee.
The break is set about a half-mile from a paved road, is dotted by trees and is now surrounded by fields of soft mud, making it extremely difficult to get any sort of heavy machinery back to the area for repairs.
While the area can still be accessed by foot, the roadway needed to be rebuilt Tuesday to allow equipment into the area so workers could take another stab at trying to plug the levee.
Officials estimated just before 1 p.m. Tuesday that it would be another 24 hours before the road would be suitable for levee repair work to continue.
Details about the next step in trying to keep the water within the Weber River's banks and out of fields and nearby homes were not released as of Tuesday afternoon.
The National Weather Service issued its latest flood potential report Tuesday afternoon, saying the Weber River is still above flood stage, but cooler temperatures should keep it from getting worse.
Hydrologist Brian McInerney said there is still more than 40 inches of snow equivalent in the snowpack of the Weber River drainage.
The historic average for this time of year is 4 inches.
However, colder temperatures will keep the rate of snowmelt between 1 and 1.5 inches per day. It takes 2 to 3 inches of snowmelt per day to cause flooding.
The danger, McInerney said, is that temperatures in Utah will rise to their typical highs for June, in the high 80s, before the snow has melted.
Over the weekend in North Ogden, a retention basin overflowed into Green Acres Park, 2050 N. 600 East, causing minor flooding on the soccer fields, but many residents made the most of the situation by swimming and canoeing in the flooded areas.
The area was flooded when branches and debris got caught up along the retention basin. Public works crews cleared the debris.
City Manager Ed Dickie said all creeks and streams in the city are at full capacity, but nothing is out of control at this point.
City crews are making checks twice daily at all water locations, and an on-call employee makes night checks.
Dickie also said residents have been vigilant in letting the city know when there is a problem in their neighborhood, which has been very helpful.
Standard-Examiner reporter Charles Trentelman and correspondent Rachel Trotter contributed to this article.
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