ROCK SPRINGS – Residents, emergency responders and city officials met in a workshop Tuesday to discuss what worked during the recent flooding and what needs to be looked at closer.

Rock Springs Mayor Carl Demshar explained that anytime you have an emergency response plan that is activated, officials meet to discuss what went right and what went wrong.

Through these discussions, Demshar said they then make adjustments to the plan to make it better and more efficient.

The workshop focused on several different items, including: emergency response, communication, a review of how many resources the city needed to call on and finally, how to adjust the plan from lessons learned.

 

Community Support

Before starting the discussion, Demshar praised the community for coming together through the challenging time. He said the outpouring of help from residents and other agencies – like Sublette County who provided a sand bagging machine – was amazing. He said local businesses spared employees on Wednesday to come help with the efforts.

“I can’t say enough about the community and all those who volunteered to help,” Rock Springs Mayor Carl Demshar

 

Eye Witness Account/Day One

Demshar then explained, from his point of view, what he experienced during the storms.

He recalled watching the rain at his home on Monday and how the gutters on his home were overflowing and could not keep up with the water.

Seeing this, Demshar jumped in his truck and headed to Dewar Drive. He said the Rock Springs Fire and Police Departments were already out directing traffic and working to provide public safety for residents.

Demshar said as he looked at the water he could see the swirls in the water which told him the drains were open and working. However, he said dumping that much water in that short of time is going to overwhelm most drainage systems.

From there he traveled to Elk Street and saw a lake. From there he went downtown and again saw members of the police department taking action and blocking off places where were under water such as the underpass on M Street.

Approximately 30 minutes later, Demshar said he went back down Dewar Drive and the water was gone.

“I thought the city resources were deployed properly and did what they needed to do,” he said.

 

Back-t0-Back 30 Year Storms/Round-Two

The story then moved to Tuesday. Demshar said he was in the mayor’s office watching and explained it “looked like someone was dumping buckets of water” on city hall. He hopped in his vehicle and headed back down Dewar Drive. Again he said it was flooded but added when he went to Elk Street it was dry this time.

It was about this time, Demshar said they started getting a lot of calls about flooding in the downtown area. He said there was quite a bit of damage done in the downtown area.

 

The Day After/Storm on the Horizon

Demshar said residents, local groups and other departments called to offer assistance, help cleanup from Tuesday while also preparing for another round of storms on course for Rock Springs.

“For whatever reason it went south,” Demshar said about the Wednesday storm.

“If we would have been hit again on Wednesday it would have been bad.” -Rock Springs Mayor Carl Demshar

 

In Review 

Rock Springs Fire Chief Jim Wamsley was enjoying a little vacation time but was informed of the issue. He flew home to help coordinate the efforts. He also recalled when the calls started coming in about the downtown. He was quite surprised to see the underpass was completely under water while at headquarters it was dry.

Wamsley was also moved by the actions of the residents of Rock Springs.

“I saw things that made me proud to be a resident of Rock Springs,” – Jim Wamsley

Demshar asked Wamsley if he thought things were handled adequately. Wamsley said he believed they were. He said the number one issue is communication. He said when it comes to communication, there are often issues brought up which could be done better.

 

Communication is Key

The director of the Rock Springs Engineering Department, Paul Kauchich, was also asked if he noticed things that could have been done differently. He said he didn’t really see anything glaring when it came to the flooding. However, he did point to communication issues. Kauchich said directing all the calls about flooding issues to one central incident command center instead of different agencies handling different issues should be looked at.

By directing these calls to one group it would have helped prioritize the needs and get the proper departments to where they are needed most.

Overall all, Kauchich said he was proud of all his crews and departments who worked hard to help. He said not many people may realize, but crews like the cemetery crew were doing what they could in the community to help the situation.

“Everyone was out trying to help,” he explained.

 

Combined Dispatch Center

One group which was challenged during the event was the dispatchers at the Combined Communication.

Combined Communication Director Robin Ettienne said he felt it went very well. One issue which was brought forward by Mayor Demshar, and again by the dispatchers, was the challenge of dealing with the flood in areas of the city while keeping normal services going to those who were not impacted at all by the flooding.

Dispatch received about 471 calls on Tuesday which was well above the average 200 to 300 daily calls. One dispatcher said it was hard to focus on the calls about the flooding while trying to balance the normal calls dispatch usually receives. The dispatchers also believed that having a group they could forward the calls to about flooding issues would have helped.

 

Dead Horse Creek Retention Ponds

The retention ponds on Dead Horse Creek Canyon were also discussed. Demshar said officials thought with all the water running downtown one of the retention ponds must have given way. When they went to look the ponds were about half full and were holding.

As they took a harder look, Demshar said the actual problem happened downstream of the ponds.

 

Plugged up Drain/Litter Bugs

The issue of litter in drains was put in focus on June 15th when a strong rainstorm challenged the Dead Horse Creek flood prevention measures.

It was explained that near the horse corrals on the South Belt Loop there is a drain which was plugged up and water was going over the top of the drain. Both Kauchich and Demshar said the city had a young man who was out at the drain during the storm working to keep it clear of debris until a police officer told him a wall of water was heading their way.

Kauchich said he was able to get the backhoe and himself out of the way before the water hit.

Councilman Rob Zotti told people to stop dumping trash in the drainage creeks. He said doing so impacts the entire community and this showed that very well.

Demshar said as he looked at the issue he had never seen so many tree stumps and branches which had all been cut by a saw.

The drain is located on county land and is maintained by the county.

Sweetwater County Commissioner John Kolb was also discouraged about people dumping trash. He reminded residents that the Sweetwater County Commissioner recently approved a resolution which would give $750 to residents who report trash dumping.

 

Regular Meeting/Public Comment

Due to scheduling, public comment occurred during the regular meeting that followed immediately after the workshop.

During the regular meeting several residents from the Elk Street area who voiced concerns about flooding at the previous meeting continued to express their frustration Tuesday.

Several of the Elk Street residents said that in the event of a sizable storm, water often comes down from Desert View School. The residents again asked why the city has not put a retention pond in that area.

 

New Retention Pond Required?

The land where a pond would have to be located is owned by different entities but mainly Union Pacific who owns a big portion of land above the school.

The residents said the city did work with the Bureau of Land Management and other property owners to build the retention ponds in other areas, such as Dead Horse Creek and questioned what the difference was.

Demshar told the residents the city will start looking at this and seeing what could be done. Councilman David Halter said there have been a lot of issues with drainage along Elk Street and believed strongly the city should start working on the issue.

 

Absentee Land Lords?

During the previous City Council Meeting on July 7th residents who identified themselves as renters at Desert View Mobile Home Village off of Elk Street and downstream from Desert View Elementary asked the city for help. Citing their frustration with the response of the City to the mud that damaged homes in the flooding.

During the July 21st City Council meeting the council asked the Desert View Mobile Home Village residents if the management of the park who were identified as, Yoshi Enterprises of Colorado had been able to provide help.

Residents said that the park management had no reaction to their inquiries and stated that the management told them it is legally a civil issue.

Demshar said he would look into the matter.

 

Summary

Overall, Demshar said the city will probably have several more of these type of meetings as they continue to move forward.

Councilman Jason Armstrong pointed out there was a website posted on the City Facebook where residents could report the damages they sustained.

However, the website was taken down.

Wamsley said the website to report damages should be back up in a day or two and will stay online for two weeks. Wamsley said the reporting form will be located on the Sweetwater County Website at www.sweet.wy.us

Armstrong urged those on Elk Street to use the site to report their damages. Armstrong said the site not only allows residents to report damages but also gives city planners valuable insight on problem areas. 

 

Social Media

Mayor Demshar said that while he is not personally a user of Facebook the service was invaluable to the city’s communication efforts during the flood.