Flood — Salt Lake, Utah

2010-06-05 to 2010-06-07 · near Pallas, Salt Lake, Utah

Event narrative

Little Cottonwood Creek flooded for multiple days, with the gauge located on Little Cottonwood Creek at Crestwood Park peaking at 891 cfs on June 7th. Damage was reported in homes, apartments and businesses in Sandy, Cottonwood Heights, Murray and Midvale. Many of these buildings experienced flooding in backyards, basements, patios, and parking areas. Some damage in these areas was avoided due to an extensive sandbagging effort.

Some of the most extensive flood damage occurred in areas of Murray Park, State Street near the park, and surrounding structures to the park, with water as deep as 4 to 5 feet reported in parts of Murray Park. It was in this area that the street flooding was most widespread; multiple lanes of traffic on State Street were closed due to flooding, with water as much as a foot deep in some spots. Flooding also occurred on Vine Street, one block west of State Street.

Damage also occurred in Little Cottonwood Canyon, where the creek had cut 20 to 30 feet into the mountain below the road near the mouth of the canyon.

Wider weather episode

Abnormally warm temperatures in early June, combined with a deep late season snowpack, led to excessive snowmelt across northern Utah. This caused flooding on both Little Cottonwood Creek and the Weber River near Oakley.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.6480, -111.8902)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 242484. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.