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Strong thunderstorm causes flooding on campus

The National Weather Service radar shows Wednesday night's storm moving towards Ogden (Photo: National Weather Service)
The National Weather Service radar shows Wednesday night’s storm moving towards Ogden (Photo: National Weather Service)

A strong thunderstorm hit Ogden during the overnight hours from Wednesday to Thursday, bringing heavy rain and flooding to Weber State University.

The band of storms formed Wednesday night over the desert of western Utah and slowly made its way towards the Wasatch Front.

The system caused power outages and the closure of Interstate 215 in Salt Lake County due to flash flooding. From Salt Lake City, the storms moved northbound and reached Ogden at around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday night.

Heavy rainfall of over one inch in two hours caused several water retention features on campus to overflow.

The drains along the walkway between the Social Sciences Building and the Wattis Business Building were unable to keep up with the incoming water, causing flooding along the walkway.

40th Street was also flooded near Wildcat Village, making it difficult for vehicles to pass through. The water retention pond west of Weber State Credit Union, an important feature designed to avoid flooding in this part of campus, overflowed and poured significant amounts of water onto Harrison Boulevard.

The duck pond, already filled with water from storms of the days prior, flooded the lowest level of the walkway around the pond with several inches of water.

By the beginning of WSU’s regular operations on Thursday morning, the water had retreated and no significant damage was reported.

Flooding of this scope is uncommon on campus, especially in July, Ogden’s driest month.

According to the National Weather Service, the Ogden East Bench averages 0.76 inches for the whole month of July. With the recent storms, more than twice this amount has fallen during the first nine days of this month.

 

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