SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City public utility engineers were in the middle of planning a project to replace an aging Emigration Creek culvert near Wasatch Hollow Preserve in April 2023 when they learned that flooding had started to occur in the area.
A blockage in a county-managed piece of water infrastructure upstream sent the fast-flowing creek — aided by a strong runoff from the state’s record snowpack that season — over its banks and into the park and onto 1700 South, causing flood concerns in the quiet neighborhood.
About 40 homes were temporarily placed under voluntary evacuation as city crews raced to redirect the water back into Emigration Creek on the south side of the road. While the work saved homes from severe flooding, it also worsened an existing erosion issue by the aging 1700 South culvert…