Spanish Fork homeowners impacted by major flooding

SPANISH FORK, Utah (KUTV) — Rivers in Spanish Fork are reaching levels that they haven’t seen in more than twenty years.

In unincorporated Utah County, west of Spanish Fork, a portion of the Spanish Fork River is four feet higher than usual, a section of the road is washed out and it has created a lake in the backyard of a home.

Homeowner David Hansen said for the last three weeks they have been trying the best they can to keep the water out.

“This is one we will be talking about for years to come, for sure,” Hansen said.

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David Hansen and his wife have lived at their home in Spanish Fork since 2001. They both said they’ve never seen anything like this.

“It’s been exhausting, we’ve been sandbagging, equipment, working everywhere, lots and lots of volunteer help,” Hansen said.

With help from more than 100 volunteers, they have built a barrier of haybales and sandbags to stop the water from reaching their home. It’s three-feet tall surrounding their home, but the river is moving fast.

“In this area the river may usually be 10 or 12 feet wide, maybe three or four feet deep it could be deeper in some places, right now it’s moving at least more than double that,” Utah County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Sgt. Spencer Cannon said.

Hansen said the flooding reached its peak on Sunday, but the water made its way into their crawl space on Tuesday morning.

“We knew this was coming. we just didn’t know it was going to be this much and this fast,” Cannon said.

But they are hopeful it has finally reached a plateau.

“We have had so much help and we just appreciate that and the community and the area. We would like to be the ones helping someone else, but this time it’s been just everybody helping, that’s just been amazing,” Hansen said.

Flooding is impacting other areas of Spanish Fork, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said a part of Highway 89, near mile marker 311 is closed and they expect it to remain closed for a week.