SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah (ABC 4 News) – Saratoga Springs Mayor and U.S. Congressional Candidate Mia Love is responding to flood victim’s complaints that she didn’t do enough to fortify Israel Canyon even two months after the Dump Fire left it vulnerable to a mudslide.
“You have to understand these are people who have had their homes turned up-side-down and they’re looking for anybody to say, ‘Hey what could have been done?’” said Love.
It took Herriman 3.5 weeks to put up silt barriers and debris basins after the Machine Gun fire in 2010, according to City spokeswoman Nicole Martin.
Saratoga Springs engineer Jeremy Lapin says a 100-year-rain triggered the mudslide into his City.
Flood victim Britany Henderson said the mudslide was up to 6-feet-high when it slammed into her home and caused tens-of-thousands of dollars in damage.
“You can’t look at the City and then blame a City for something that happened on land that doesn’t belong to them or control the weather that’s like saying figure out how to control the weather,” said Love.
ABC 4’s Noah Bond asked, “Is that fair for the Mayor to say that to respond in that way?” Mudslide victim Marjilee Booth responded, “I don’t think so.”
“There’s always something that could have been done, always. It doesn’t matter if the City was perfect or if they were an absolute failure. There’s always better things that could have been done,” said mudslide victim, Andy Schreyer.
Andy also says it’s tough to place blame on the City and he wants to move forward.
“We are doing everything we possibly can to make sure we are taking care of things,” says Love.
Mayor Love says her City Council set up a private donation fund for the victims. Victims are grateful, but a common complaint is the lack of communication. They didn’t know the City’s long term flood plan before the Wednesday night meeting. .
“We’re going to work with them and of course it’s understandable. There are people that are struggling they want to get things going. We’re going to communicate and let them know what we’re doing,” Love said.
