Kaysville City officials have issued the following statement on the recent Orchard Ridge Subdivision flooding:
In the early hours of Wednesday, April 12, 2023, crews from Kaysville City responded to an emergency call in the Orchard Ridge Subdivision. In one of the construction zones in the subdivision, crews found water from mountain runoff that had been flowing into an underground storm water system had started flowing out of an access manhole and onto a recently constructed roadway. In multiple locations, flows had started going behind the curbs, eroding large amounts of soil, subsequently leading to underground utilities and roadway sections collapsing. While the exact cause of this damage is still unknown, initial indications are that somehow the underground piping had become plugged, and the water was forced up and out of the manhole.
Throughout the day on the 12th, a host of individuals comprised of Orchard Ridge residents, City crews, staff from various developers, Davis County, and various other local and State agencies helped to place nearly 6,000 sandbags to try to isolate flows into undamaged sections of the road. This was an effort to minimize additional damage to surrounding homes, roadways and utilities. In the days following, large resident groups continued to fill and place sandbags to reinforce the original placement.
Following the initial response, City crews expanded their focus to cleaning undamaged portions of the underground storm drain system to help regain capacities that had been diminished by debris from above. To aid in these cleaning efforts and to try to mitigate the immediate impact of the flows running in front of residents homes, City crews continued to explore options to either direct flows away from storm drain inlets that needed to be cleaned, or to divert runoff flows away from the subdivision. By Friday, April 14th, a local vendor was able to locate a sufficient quantity of pipe out of State and began making preparations to ship the necessary equipment to the site so that as much flow as possible could be bypassed away from the subdivision. At this time, the majority of the flows are being diverted away from the site to an alternate location, which further helps to allow plans and coordination to begin regarding repairs and reconstruction. Some flows may continue in the roadway depending on fluctuations in local weather, and the City recommends that residents keep sandbags in place at this time.
Kaysville City will continue to work with the applicable developers to see that repairs are made appropriately and as quickly as possible.
Posted on 4/20/2023