The heavy rain that pounded Carbon County Monday night and Tuesday morning took a toll on Helper. Mud and debris surged down from the steep cliffs north and east of town and flooded the north end of Main Street, reaching a high water mark of about ten feet at the Janet Street underpass.
There were reports of basements in the vicinity with a foot or more of water in them.
By Tuesday morning, city crews and property owners were digging out. Helper councilman Chris Pugliese said they got help from Silver Spur Construction, which halted work on the water and sewer project in the west part of the city to move workers and equipment downtown.
Pugliese added that the infrastructure project was relatively undamaged. Those parts that had been completed held up as planned. “Two years from now, this won’t happen,” he said, looking at the flooded streets. “That is why we are doing what we are doing.”
Persons who need emergency city assistance can call 472-HELP.
Former mayor Dean Armstrong commented that this is the time for a thorough “postmortem” of the event, so engineers and city planners can determine problem areas and devise solutions that can be incorporated into the ongoing infrastructure project.
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