The Santa Clara River Flood of 2005, St George, UT 84770

Bob & Tammy Cope
Trebruck Circle, St. George, UT

Written by Tammy Cope

We live right next to Lon and Carrie Henderson on Trebruck Circle. Our house is probably the closest to the river in our little development here. When we built our home the river was about 500 yards for us and a little creek you could jump across. The children used to go down and catch pollywogs and crawdads. You never felt the river to be a threat and when it did flood over the road, it never came close to our home at all, so there had never been a concern about flooding.

On Monday morning, January 10^th, Carrie called and told us that we had flood waters up to banks in our back yard. It was amazing sight to see water up so our property. Carrie and I sat and watched the water. We felt if we kept our eyes on the water that no danger would come to our homes…as if we were able to stop mother nature. We sat there in a chair during the hard rains that came and watched and prayed that the water would slow down. We watched it go up and then we watched it go down. It fluctuated during the day many times. Monday night the water had gone down about six inches and we all felt very calm and we all went to bed and had a very good sleep, only to wake up with the water being a foot higher and very fast and furious.

As the weather got worse on Tuesday the water got dramatically faster. Later in the afternoon when the road and bridge broke, it changed everything . It caused a V-force that started to cut a hugh channel. The earth dropped within a matter of minutes. Within an hour the land between our home and the river had disappeared and a 15-20 ft drop into a canyon between my house and the park had now appeared. The water was a huge, powerful erosive force that was gobbling up the landscape. It tore out trees and boulders, moving out of its former channel over 200 years to threaten our homes. The bank was eroding at about 30 feet per hour.

There was a big old tree behind our yard and I felt we would be okay as long as that old tree stood, because it had always been there. But unfortunately, the tree went and when it did, I totally lost it. I became very emotional as it seemed as though everything we had worked so hard for was falling apart very quickly.

My husband and my son then told us “to grab a bag – a bag of clothes, important papers and our most precious things and evacuate our home.” So all the children grabbed a bag and our 72 hour kits. We were just getting ready to leave our home when our friends and neighbors started showing up to help. There were many, many people who had come to help us get our belongings out of our home. My husband, Bob, told us that he thought we had about four hours before the waters would take our home. We gathered everyone together and offered a prayer. We expressed our gratitude for our safety, for the compassion of all these good people, and for our wonderful friends. Then we asked for safety, and if possible that our house might be spared. Then, with so many great people helping us, we moved our furniture out in about two hours. I estimate that over 100 people were at our house that evening helping us. We started moving out at 8:30 pm and were completely out by 11:00 pm.

About the time we got all of our furniture out of our home the water had changed its course and stated heading in a different direction. It looked like our house would probably be safe, but we wouldn’t know until morning. The next morning we saw the damage and destruction before our eyes. Our home had been spared, the water had gone down, but the damage around us and the damage down the river was absolutely unbelievable. The day before we stood and watched four homes in Creekside go into the river so it kind of gives you an idea where we were mentally. We watched other homes disappear and wondered if our home would be standing the next morning.

Well, we were grateful for all the help we had the night before and for all the wonderful people who came to help us. We decided to move back two days later and we had nearly the same number of people come and help us move back into our home. It was a wonderful experience, in that we found out about humanity. It is truly amazing how people gather together to help others in time of need. Unfortunately, some of my son’s things and money turned up missing. I understand that there were some opportunistic people who took advantage of this situation, and some looting occurred. The vast majority of people want to help and to comfort those in need, but there are some who only think of themselves. I guess this is just part of any disaster. But now, it is a week later and we are so very grateful to be safe in our home, and thankful to our family and to our many friends that made this situation easier to endure.

So I am very grateful to still have a home even though the property just outside our boundary lines are very close to the river. Although, I have a very different view, I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father for all of our blessings. We came through this mostly unscathed and we’ve learned how wonderful people are in times of crisis. Our family has grown and become more unified as a result. It was an experience we will never forget.