Cottonwood Heights residents prepare for flooding

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah — A race against mother nature in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, as residents build their walls of sandbags in preparation for what may come.

KSL-TV caught up with Dustin Armstrong, who lives right by Little Cottonwood Creek. He was working hard, clearing a line along the back side of his property to fill it in with sandbags. He’s hoping to stack about 500 bags.

“If water goes over the top of the levy, the game is lost. Suddenly everything in here is flooded,” said Armstrong. “Happy to have the water, of course, but too much all at once is not a good thing.”

That’s because their city sits right at the bottom of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons.

Karen Milne, also who lives nearby, is also concerned. She and her husband have stacked a pile of debris the city is coming to pick up that’s come from along the creek bed.

“If this bridge goes, it will quickly cause a dam, and it will flood everywhere,” Milne explained. “If we have a slow melt, we shouldn’t have any problems. That’s what I’m counting on.”

It’s why the city’s public works department has opened its yard for sandbagging. Hours are Monday through Friday, 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

That’s where KSL-TV found Steve Mayer and his son Braden sandbagging.

“Like everybody else, we are a little worried about the runoff this year, so I brought my son out, and we are learning how to fill sandbags, and then we are just going to put them by our driveway and be at the ready,” Steve said.