ST. GEORGE – The year 2005 was a surprising and anguishing year. It found Washington County, and most particularly residents living along the Santa Clara River and Virgin River, unexpectedly caught in flood waters that swelled their homes, their backyards and swallowed up their things . . . things are not most important in life, most of us agree, but things can hold enormous heart memories and traditions. These are the losses.
The cost of losses in the Washington County floods ranged between $150 and $180 million, according to http://www.utahfloodrelief.
Today , we in Washington County and surrounding areas cannot help but be captivated by the swelling of rivers, nature's assault on bridges, waters so powerful they can seriously impact the life of a family . . . . do we fear a revisitation of "water demons" or do we recall that "waters come and come they may, but we will come together .. we will – we of Utah's Dixie. . . " that was a question, you must answer for yourself.
Today, in the Bloomington region of St. George, many might recall how the Man O War Bridge, that connects the bedroom community of Bloomington to I-15, was previously impassable by flood-waters. Much has been done by our Community engineers and officials to ensure that swelling waters would not again threaten homes and roads.
Today, you might have thought it a carnival of curious proportions – so many people congregating at the Man O War Bridge to Bloomington. The river is and was what we expect – crazy furiously powerful – but here's the story on the big beautiful backhoe that was working tirelessly below the bridge: Officer Chad Pectol of the City of St. George Police Department, who was on site at the Man O War Bridge in Bloomington assured "the excavator is for purposes of preventative measures, moving debris, trees and all of this [that we could see]." Officer Pectol continued, "at this time there is no concern of a threat of flooding . . . "