Utah’s wet weather is leading to some tragic situations in mountain communities. While it hasn’t been the disaster that was the floods in 1983, it has led to some interesting situations. The town of Mountain Green, which is located near Snowbasin Resort, forced some homes to evacuate due to a mudslide.
Over this past weekend, another sad scenario happened to a pair of homes in Draper, which is a suburb of Salt Lake City. Two homes collapsed and slid down a hill on early Saturday morning. According to KSL, the homes were evacuated back in October 2022 due to breaks in the foundation and sliding, which was likely caused by unstable soil. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the builder of the homes said that it was a failure of the retaining wall and slope. Utah’s melting snowpack is another factor that likely led to the home’s ultimate collapse over the weekend.
This video from Jeremy Nef shows one of the homes collapsing.
@jnef111 Its been slowly sliding all year. No one was in it.
On Saturday, the Draper City Government posted an update regarding the homes. Two public trails, Clark’s and Ann’s, have been closed due to the slides landing on these trails. The city is working with the developer of the buildings, Edge Homes, to figure out the safety of the adjacent properties.
Edge Homes are saying that they’ve bought back one of the homes from the prior owner, and will fairly compensate the other homeowner who lost their property. Two adjacent homes to the wreckage have been evacuated.
A video report from KSL, which includes an interview with one of the families that saw their home destroyed, is below.
Image/Video Credits: Jeremy Nef, Draper City Government, KSL
