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After two days of steady rain, Utah's southwest corner has had enough.

Debris formed a logjam in an irrigation ditch near Cedar City, causing water to back up early Thursday and slice through an earthen dike, flooding five houses.

To the south in Washington City, the Virgin River, which at this time of year usually runs about 10 feet wide and 6 inches deep, swelled in places to 20 feet deep and 500 feet across, said Fire Chief Dwayne Isom. The river came to within four feet of going over a bridge that crosses the river. The river's high waters drowned thousands of pheasants at a game farm, The Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, northern Utah's high mountains continued to receive a dumping of wet, heavy snow. Mount Baldy above Alta Ski Resort has recorded 56 inches of snow during the past four days, according to the National Weather Service. Tony Grove Lake above Logan collected 19 inches. Jordanelle Reservoir in Wasatch County received 4.8 inches of rain over the same period. The benches above Sandy and Farmington had received almost 3 inches of rain.

Volunteers in Washington County filled sandbags Thursday, preventing several houses from being flooded. But the danger is not over.

Isom said weather forecasts called for more heavy rains Thursday night that could add to the already swollen river by 2 this morning.

"We're preparing for a worse-case scenario," he said.

The city was expecting a sandbag-filling machine to arrive from Salt Lake City late Thursday night, and 15,000 bags were requested from Cedar City.

"Hopefully, Mother Nature will let up," the chief said. While there were warnings of heavy rain and flooding Thursday night, the forecast was for some clearing today. That would be welcome news for residents outside of Cedar City who spent the day mopping up.

Soggy carpet was piled in the front yards of homes in the Cedar Meadows subdivision where the irrigation ditch overflowed. Moving vans lined the street for flood victims to store their belongings.

Kevin Orton noticed water inside his house at about 2 a.m. Thursday. "When I got out of bed, I stepped into water up to here," said Orton, pointing to a spot above his ankle. "Our whole house was full of water. When I opened the front door, it ran out like a river."

Orton's wife, Betsy, was devastated by the damage. "I had white furniture, white carpet, white walls," she said. "We used the carpet to try to keep out the water along with sandbags."

In St. George, the Virgin River was running 25 to 30 feet higher than normal Thursday, prompting public safety officials to say they haven't seen anything like it for years.

In Zion National Park, spokesman Ron Carey said the Virgin River increased from a flow of 89 cubic feet per second earlier this week to a peak of 3,000 cfs Wednesday night. By Thursday afternoon, the river had steadied at 1,800 cfs.

Carey said the river has stayed within its banks and there were no flooding problems in the park.

Rangers are scouting the steep canyon walls for rock and mudslides, but he said no major slides had occurred by Thursday night.

Wasatch Front residents will see snow on the benches and maybe even on the valley floor by this morning, said Todd Hall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City. He said to expect a break from the soggy weather today, but get ready for another storm to roll in Saturday night - with more right behind it.

Forecasters were monitoring sensors placed on a Farmington hillside damaged by wildfire after a mudslide hit two homes in April, but all was well Thursday, Hall said.

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Tribune reporter Patty Henetz contributed to this story.