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West Warren • Twenty-five tons of sand makes for a nice defense against flood waters, but officials said the added fortifications put in place at a breached levee here won't guarantee there won't be more levee breaks along the raging Weber River.

A 40-foot section of the levee on the Weber River collapsed Thursday under the force of incessant flood waters, allowing the winter runoff to creep up to the driveways of 15 homes.

Plugging the breach wasn't a promising option.

"We are not going to completely patch it up, because that will put more pressure on other levees," said Weber County Commission spokesman Mike Caldwell.

So flood control officials opted Friday to shore up the area around the breach and reduce the amount of water flowing out.

Thirty-foot metal poles were driven into the ground to support metal screens stretched between them. Fifty sandbags weighing a half-ton each were positioned around these barriers as further support and also placed around the breach. Crews worked into the evening Friday to install two 48-inch diversion pipes in the makeshift structure to divert the overflow to the west.

As of 5:30 p.m. Friday, crews were in the process of putting more sandbags around the levee and no homes in the area had been flooded.

"They just placed 10 or 12 of those posts with [as many] sandbags in place and we could see a noticeable difference," Caldwell said. "The water [next to the levee breach] dropped 6-8 inches. I think we will be in good shape."

Sandbags were also used to repair a smaller levee that had failed near the West Weber Cemetery, east of the main levee break.

Those half-ton sandbags were delivered Friday morning courtesy of two Utah National Guard Blackhawk helicopters and dropped at a staging area close to the levee. As helicopters were flying, track-hoes were retrieving four diesel pumps that had been submerged in the river Thursday. The pumps were being positioned to relieve pressure on the levee by redirecting river water. But the levee failed, and the pumps were swamped.

Caldwell said the river flows dropped about a foot overnight and the levee didn't further deteriorate. In fact, Friday morning Caldwell said the river flow was at the lowest point it had been in two weeks.

"So that was a relief," he said. "The river has come down a bit, which was great for us."

But lower flows didn't necessarily mean success everywhere. Before the sandbags were set in place, the flood waters kept rising.

Mike Marriott, who lives near 300 North and 5900 West, rode his ATV through a submerged 300 North road near his house to see the progress made at the breached levee to the east. He said the levee he made around his home failed overnight, but he did his best to repair it.

Despite lower flows coming into the Weber River on Friday, Marriott said he is still concerned because overflow waters from the broken levee are continuing to rise toward his downstream home.

"I hope they slow it up a little," Marriott said. "I guess we will see what happens."

Families living nearby pulled out their kayaks and canoes and paddled down the Warren canal to check on repair efforts on the levee throughout the day.

Mindy Lambert, a homeowner living on 5900 West, took her kids down on her four-wheeler to see the levee repairs. She said since Thursday the flood waters near her home have increased.

"Yesterday, it [the water] was not even across this road [300 North]," Lambert said as she sat on a four-wheeler surrounded by water a half-foot high. "And it is even higher now."

cimaron@sltrib.com

Twitter: @CimCity —

Flood info

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