WASHINGTON COUNTY, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Water officials say that a leaking dam near the town of Rockville will hold, despite earlier warnings that it would burst on Tuesday. Residents of Springdale and Rockville evacuated as more storms were expected in the area.
The Washington County Commission also signed a declaration of emergency as the National Weather Service issued a report at about 12:30 p.m. saying that failure of the Trees Ranch (South Creek) dam was imminent.
The dam is located above the east fork of the Virgin River in Washington County.
Officials from the Washington County Sheriffs department reported that the dam was leaking and could fail at any time.
The NWS reported that if the privately-owned dam were to fail "catastrophically," flows in excess of 50,000 cubic feet per second would reach Rockville about 35 to 45 minutes after the failure.
The NWS said a catastrophic failure is a "worst case" scenario, and that a less rapid failure would result in a much lower, although still significant volume of water that would impact the town of Rockville and others downstream.
The dam is located at the mouth of the Parunaweap Canyon which is just south of Zion National Park. Water from the dam was expected to move down the east fork of the Virgin river and eventually into the Virgin river.
The NWS warned all residents who live below the Trees Ranch Dam to take action immediately.
Washington County officials warned all residents who live near the Virgin River to take caution as more than 300 top 500 acre feet of water and debris was expected to flow through Rockville, Ivins, Hurricane, LaVerkin, Washington, St. George and Mesquite.
The Utah American Red Cross planned to open a shelter in Hurricane for residents of Rockville and others who may be forced to evacuate from their homes due to the rising flood water. The shelter will be located at Hurricane Elementary 50 South 100 West.
The American Red Cross in Southern Nevada also opened a shelter Monday night at Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite, NV for residents affected by the flooding. The shelter hosted 15 individuals over night and was to remain open for as long as needed.
For more information, visit the
shelters section of the Red Cross website at
www.redcross.org.
