Neighborhood comes together to keep homes from flooding after water line break - St George News
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ST. GEORGE — A small army of neighbors came together to save two homes they feared would flood due to a water pipe break up the street that sent a river flowing toward the homes at the end of a cul-de-sac in the Bloomington Hills area Tuesday evening.
Around 9 p.m., a 6-inch water pipe under the road at the intersection of Lakespur Road and Crockett Circle broke sending a flood of water toward homes at the end of the circle. As the water reached the end of the cul-de-sac, it began to pool in front of the homes and creep up their driveways to closed garage doors.
In response to the sudden threat of water getting into the homes, over 50 people began to show up with push brooms and shovels and started pushing the water toward a drainage ditch located on the side of one of the houses, which drains into the golf course behind the neighborhood.
“It was running like a river down there,” said Paula Houston, one of the homeowners who witnessed the horde of neighbors appear to save her home potential flooding.
Water running from the broken line was shut off by responding city water crews around 9:30 p.m. This allowed the neighbors to start making headway on the large pool that had formed at the end of the cul-de-sac.
Some of the neighbors were originally standing in an estimated 6 inches of water as they helped push it toward the ditch. Thanks to the neighborhood’s collective efforts, the pool gradually shrank and disappeared by 10 p.m.
“It’s amazing,” Houston said of her neighbors. “They’ve been really wonderful. They jumped right in and grabbed every broom and shovel they could find and went to work.”
While some water did get into the garages of Houston and her next-door neighbor, it was not enough to cause damage to anything inside. No water made it into the interior of the homes beyond that point.
Scott Taylor, the water services manager for the city of St. George, said that while the situation was unfortunate, water line breaks are not uncommon.
“It happens, and we know how to take care of it,” Taylor said while standing near the collapsed part of Lakespur Road where the pipe had broken and created a sinkhole.
Water to multiple homes in the area was shut off due to the line break and subsequent repair by city work crews who worked until 4 a.m. Wednesday.
The city ended up installing a new pipe and valves in order to better isolate the impacted area during any future line breaks, Taylor said in a text to St. George News Wednesday morning.
While at the scene of the water line break Tuesday night, Taylor noted how impressed he was to see so many people come out to help their neighbors.
“I’m grateful I have such wonderful neighbors,” Houston said.
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A collapsed part of Lakespur Road where a water line broker underneath the street, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Over 50 people showed up to protect two homes in their neighborhood in the Bloomington Hills area from being flooded by a growing pool of water created by a water line break up the road, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
A collapsed part of Lakespur Road where a water line broker underneath the street, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Water seeps up through the road following the break of a water line underneath Lakespur Road in St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Over 50 people showed up to protect two homes in their neighborhood in the Bloomington Hills area from being flooded by a growing pool of water created by a water line break up the road, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Over 50 people showed up to protect two homes in their neighborhood in the Bloomington Hills area from being flooded by a growing pool of water created by a water line break up the road, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
A river of water running toward the end of Crockett Circle following the break of a water line on Lakespur Road in St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Over 50 people showed up to protect two homes in their neighborhood in the Bloomington Hills area from being flooded by a growing pool of water created by a water line break up the road, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Over 50 people showed up to protect two homes in their neighborhood in the Bloomington Hills area from being flooded by a growing pool of water created by a water line break up the road, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Over 50 people showed up to protect two homes in their neighborhood in the Bloomington Hills area from being flooded by a growing pool of water created by a water line break up the road, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Over 50 people showed up to protect two homes in their neighborhood in the Bloomington Hills area from being flooded by a growing pool of water created by a water line break up the road, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Over 50 people showed up to protect two homes in their neighborhood in the Bloomington Hills area from being flooded by a growing pool of water created by a water line break up the road, St. George, Utah, July 14, 2020 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.
Mori Kessler serves as a Senior Reporter for St. George News, having previously contributed as a writer and Interim Editor in 2011-12, and an assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began writing news as a freelancer in 2009 for Today in Dixie, and joined the writing staff of St. George News in mid-2010. He enjoys photography and won an award for photojournalism from the Society of Professional Journalists for a 2018 photo of a bee inspector removing ferals bees from a Washington City home. He is also a shameless nerd and has a bad sense of direction.
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