SANTA CLARA – With rain in the forecast for Thursday and Friday, city work crews in Santa Clara set up a temporary channel to divert potential flood waters.
Jack Taylor, public services director for Santa Clara City, said multiple agencies came together to create the channel. The purpose of the channel is to divert water that may pour into the area from the Tuacahn Wash in Ivins. This water would have normally been held back by the earthen dike by Snow Canyon High School, but that dike no longer exists due to its breaking on Sept. 11, which led to the flooding of multiple homes and businesses.
The temporary channel starts at the site of the failed dike, where a channel has been dug out and leads up to North Canyon View Drive. Directed across the street, the water will hit concrete barriers reinforced by sand bags and tarps. These barriers loop around Dutchman’s Market, where any waves of water will then pour across Santa Clara Drive to meet the main body of the channel that stretches across a field, over Arrowhead Road – which is closed for the time being – and then into another field.
Taylor said he expected the channel would hold without much trouble. “Really, (the channel) is fairly tight,” he said.
Taylor also said city agencies were expecting over an inch of rain during Thursday evening according to data from the National Weather Service. These agencies will also be on standby in case something goes wrong. “We’ve got all of our crews (at the ready) – fire, water, public safety, power –and we have to do that for Santa Clara because we’re a small community and we all work together.”
For Santa Clara residents who may be worried about whether or not the channel will work, Taylor said to “pray we’ve done the best that we can and the channel will hold.”
The temporary channel will be left in place over night.
As an added measure against oncoming waters, officials in Ivins are monitoring the Tuacahn Wash, and will inform Santa Clara of any water headed in the city’s direction.
A quick shot of the segment of the temporary flood channel location on the south side of Santa Clara Drive.
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