Heavy mountain snowpack and the advent of spring temperatures are bringing swollen rivers and the risk of flooding to the area.

Though the peak of it isn’t expected for weeks, emergency responders in the area along the Weber and Ogden rivers are already starting to take precautions.

This includes Weber County Emergency Management Coordinator Eli Johnson.

“Right now, the county is actively sandbagging, primarily in the upper valley and in the Ogden Canyon,” he told the Standard-Examiner on Tuesday. “Those are the areas that are the greatest threat for potential flooding right now as the runoff is beginning to start to come down with this warm weather.”

He said that the county has already opened up sandbagging locations for residents and that this list could expand in the coming days.

“We have sandbagging locations for valley residents dispersed throughout our road shops in the upper valley,” he said. “We are working on moving our way west this week. We’ll start establishing some additional sandbagging locations out west — primarily the West Warren, Taylor area as we’re anticipating some rises on the lower Weber as we move into next week.”

Sandbagging locations that have been announced on the Weber County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page include:

• 6450 E. 1900 North, Eden.
• 277 S. 7400 East, Huntsville.
• 4279 N. 3300 East, Liberty.
• 3844 N. Wolf Creek Drive, Eden.

In Ogden, Mike McBride, Ogden City spokesperson, told the Standard Examiner that the city has taken several steps to get ready.

“A few days ago, we had River Watch instituted, which basically means we have multiple people physically walking the river several times per day to look for problem areas that maybe wouldn’t get a phone call from a resident,” he said. “On top of that, the city has 20,000 sandbags that are ready to go and all of the sand we need to fill them. Those are going to be used in the event there’s an imminent danger of a bank being breached.”

He said the city is watching potential problem areas but that a lot of work has been done in the last two decades to significantly lower the flooding risk in Ogden proper.

“We did a pretty major river restoration back in 2009 and addressed areas of the river where flooding used to be problematic,” he said. ‘The work that was done then is now preventing floods from happening in those same areas.”

Preparations are underway to the west of Ogden as well.

Marriott-Slaterville City Attorney Bill Morris said on Tuesday that preparations have been long in the works.

“We’ve worked with the county and the Weber Fire District to get grant funds and we’re going to be working on getting (flood control equipment),” he said. “We’ve filled 2,000 sandbags. Those have already been distributed out. We have 13,000 more sandbags ready to fill in an emergency. We have sand piled on 17th Street. We have sand behind the city offices ready to go as soon as we see the levels change. Right now, we’re monitoring the weather every day.”

He said officials are also looking ahead to a post-flood situation.

“All of the communities in Weber County are doing their pre-disaster mitigation plan, that helps us keep our eligibility to get federal funding,” he said. “If we’re declared a presidential disaster area when we flood, FEMA will come in and they’ll reimburse the city 75%, then the city has to come up with 25%. We’re preparing to have all of the proper forms and documentation ready for us to be a presidential disaster area, if it comes to that.”

Johnson added that, as of Tuesday, the Ogden and Weber rivers are still largely holding in their banks and there has not been “any real widespread flooding.”

He said the Ogden River had dropped slightly and was around 1,070 cubic-feet-per-second and the upper Weber River, as measured in Weber Canyon, was around 2,350 CFS Tuesday morning. This is expected to rise in the coming weeks.

McBride said he feels Ogden City is as ready as it can be for what may come in the next couple of months.

“The city’s responsibility to public safety is our highest priority,” he said. “We’ve been watching it, not just for a few days, but for six months now. We know exactly where we’re at with water and what we need to do to prevent problems from happening. We are prepared in the event that something does happen.”

Morris said he’s still very cautious going forward.

“It’s always what you didn’t know you didn’t know that gets you,” Morris said. “I’m trying to constantly think of what is out there that I’m not thinking of that could get us. That’s where we’re at right now.”

For more information on flooding, sandbagging and to volunteer for sandbagging duty, visit webercountyutah.gov/sheriff/homeland. To report flooding or imminent flood danger in Ogden, call 801-629-8271.

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