Santa Clara Flood 2005, St George, UT

Glenna Sanderson
Riverwood, St. George, UT

Written by Glenna Sanderson

After having moved from place to place following my husband's career in California, he felt we should be where I wanted to go, where I had roots and cousins. We have served two missions to South Africa and the Philipines before we purchased our home in Riverwood the end of February 2001. It was our dream home. It was everything we ever wanted. He had heart trouble, and in his failing health knew he wouldn't live as long as me, and that home was his gift to me. We had wonderful neighbors and a beautiful home. My husband passed away Christmas morning, 2003. I have been living there by myself since then.

On Monday we were watching the river rise, but not apprehensively. We were a good 100 feet away from the Santa Clara Creek which is now called the river. The creek was about as wide as a teenage boy could jump across and was rising, but didn't cause us concern at all. But Tuesday morning we kept close watch of our land which extended in a wilderness strip clear to the little river. We watched all that become submerged and bit by bit chunks of land fell off into the river. On Monday it seemed unbelievable, and on Tuesday, we still didn't believe it would ever get to our house. We had an expert builder, Kent Prestwich, and he had built a retaining wall down to bedrock and four feet across the end of Riverwood subdivision. He and his wife were right there with me. He was such a good friend to me after my husband died.

When the chunks of earth came off into the river and the river came right up to the back of the house, we hear a crack in the back of the house and knew we had to get out.
We gathered up our most precious things which were my husband's paintings, papers, and our 20-inch statue of the Christus which was loaded into his truck.

Then the place was full of volunteers. There were a hundred people in the house to take out anything they could, people I didn't know, but the chief of police was there and gave me a hug and was very kind. The mayor, my cousin, Dan McArthur, was amazed at how serene I was. After losing my husband it seemed like a small thing, and I have my inner peace which I have learned live with always. Then Bishop Clove came and the stake president organized the help which is the standard church welfare welfare organization. One phone call from President Dunn put put in motion. There were trucks there, hundreds of volunteers and they got out a great deal of my furniture.

I have been so touched with some things that have happened. Bart and Diane Imlay live farther east, downstream, and they have a little farm that was covered with mud, but their house was okay. They went out the next day and saw something white on a tree stump and went and picked it up. It was my precious Book of Remembrance which had lots of corrections that I'd spent most of the year correcting. It was information that is not anywhere else. That seemed like a miracle to me. The next day, my husband's Book of Remembrance was found in back of Alice Allred's. That was a miracle to me.

Everybody, even strangers, have been so kind it is overwhelming. It is more overwhelming than the loss of our home. A woman and two young girls came and said they had a gift for me. They had a box covered in white paper and they had drawn pictures on the outside for me. They had made collections in their school for a flood victim and had chosen me because my husband had just passed away. They had collected $100, mostly in coins. I didn't cry when my house went into the river, and I didn't have sleepless nights, but when those little girls gave me that gift, I cried.

I am more blessed than hurt. I am happy to remember that things are just things and that we should live on a spiritual levels and not a temporal level. I know my husband knows what is happening. I have no doubt about it. I am sure his spirit is here to comfort me. It is a special place to live in St. George and a special and beautiful place to be.