Provo residents and church goers came together in a display of unity to clear debris from a mudslide that buried a local building of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Photo: Brian Hopkins)
PROVO, Utah (KUTV) — After a microburst of rain sent thousands of pounds of debris barreling into a church, officials and residents are considering whether more could have been done to prevent the destruction.
Crews continued cleanup efforts at the Latter-day Saints church on South Slate Canyon Drive in Provo, where most of the damage occurred. The church was covered in up to four feet of mud after the debris slid down the Buckley Draw Fire's burn scar on Wednesday.
A microburst of heavy rain saturated the burn scar, causing debris to rush down the hillside and into the roadway and the side of the church.
Neighbor Barry Card, whose home was spared from the mudslide, wondered if the damage could have been prevented.
“To me, this could have been avoided. The depth of the devastation could have been avoided had there been mitigation efforts in place,” said Barry Card.
Card said he wants the city to complete a debris diversion channel before more development continues on the hillside.
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Provo City Public Works Engineer Gordon Haight said that after the wildfire, construction on a temporary storm and debris channel began—but added that nothing could have prepared them for what happened Wednesday night.
“The magnitude of material that came off the mountain was such that it came all the way down. It would have overwhelmed the field and caused the same damage to the church,” said Haight.
Haight added that what they had in place "worked for 20-plus years," so officials thought it would have continued to work without incident.
However, Haight said the developer on the hillside is required to build an additional 1,200 feet of debris channel. He said with the debris channel they should be
“When they came in to put the housing in, we said, 'This can only go in if you build the big debris channel up there.' They're putting in something that’s going to be much bigger—that will protect from a much bigger storm,” he said.