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- Beaver Mayor Matt Robinson warns residents of ongoing flood risks post-monsoon.
- Flash floods remain a threat due to Cottonwood Fire burn scar, even with light rain.
BEAVER — With elevated flash flood potential extending into the weekend over the Cottonwood Fire burn scar, Beaver's mayor on Friday cautioned residents to be prepared and to be patient.
Mayor Matt Robinson said the potential flood threat will persist long after monsoonal rains vanish over the next couple weeks.
"Eventually we're going to move out of this monsoonal rain pattern, but the risk isn't going to go away," Robinson said during an interview with KSL. "When it clouds up in early September and it dumps a quarter of an inch on us, the result downstream is going to be the same."
He said the "Groundhog Day" cycle some residents had experienced recently was exhausting — between the daily potential for thunderstorms and the increasing and decreasing possibilities of being evacuated when living within a quarter-mile radius of the Beaver River.
He said, however, it was important that residents don't get "lulled to sleep" either on the days when flash floods don't materialize.
Robinson said what was concerning about two debris flow events this week, including the latest on Thursday, was that they weren't caused by huge thunderstorms.
Both occurred after less than a quarter of an inch of rain upstream, he said.
However, the mayor said crews had been working tirelessly before and after the massively destructive Cottonwood Fire to clear riverbanks of brush and debris to allow the river as much room to breathe as possible.
He said while that didn't mean residents should necessarily have their entire houses packed up in perpetuity, it did underscore the importance of having an emergency supply of drinking water, a 72-hour kit and of identifying the most important possessions and documents take if flood waters are ever on the way.
"I think all of us need to sort of come to terms with this isn't going to last a couple more weeks," Robinson explained. "This isn't going to last another month or two. We're probably going to be in a similar pattern and situation for a couple of years at least."
