Austin Turner, the Emergency Manager of Morgan County, presented sobering data on the potential flooding threat as his voice cracked at the start and finish of the presentation.
“I almost convinced myself that we were going to be okay,” Turner told the county commission this week. “We still might, but I don’t know.”
An emotional Turner said the water level at East Canyon Reservoir is rising two to three feet a day.
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“So if it continues at this rate, it will spill in 10 or 11 days,“ he said. “On an average year, we should have one inch left in the snowpack, and we’re over 27 inches of water at the mid level snow that’s got to come out.”
Turner said the county is doing everything possible to hang on as long as they can.
“The party’s over at that point,” Turner said.
Turner urged the county to be “a lot more judicious” on how they use sandbags.
“We’re going to be overwhelmed, and we’re going to need to do everything we can to protect people’s homes and our infrastructure,” he said. “We’ll do our best, we’ll work our hardest, to make sure we’ll protect what we can.”