This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The American Red Cross has set up a service center in Carbon County to assess the needs of residents who were affected by serious flooding and get them on the road to recovery, the organization says.
The center will be open Monday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Price Fire Station, 87 N. 200 East. Volunteers with the Central and Southern Utah Chapter of the Red Cross will make sure everyone has a safe place to sleep, food, clothing, medication and other essentials, spokesman Rich Woodruff said Sunday.
In addition to talking to residents at the center, volunteers with the group's Disaster Action Team are on the ground meeting with people and establishing which homes are uninhabitable, Woodruff said. Damage of varying degrees to about 100 homes has been reported and as of Sunday, there were 11 open cases of people who had nowhere to go.
After the assessment, Utah Red Cross casework volunteers will stay in touch with families that need help and provide referrals. The organization will help out "as long as it takes," Woodruff said.
Utah was hit Thursday by severe weather that included tornadoes in Garfield and Weber counties and storms that led to flooding in the central and southern parts of the state. Carbon County declared a state of emergency on Friday.
People who want to support the work of the Red Cross can donate by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-REDCROSS or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. They also can learn about volunteer opportunities at redcross.org.
In the wake of the bad weather, the Better Business Bureau of Utah is warning businesses and consumers to watch out for scams involving tree and limb removal and fence, roof and home repairs by storm chasers who go door-to-door offering to do cleanup work.
"In some cases, a homeowner may pay for a small amount of work to be done, only to be told after the fact that more work was completed and they now owe an exorbitant amount of money to the shady contractor," the bureau said in a news release. "Other times the workers will collect money saying they will return to start the work and never show up."
Before making a decision on repair work, the Better Business Bureau recommends checking your insurance coverage and what needs to be done to file a claim; checking out workers who show up at the door offering unsolicited help; checking out a company at bbb.org before signing a contract; asking for competitive bids; and reading a contract carefully.
The bureau has a list of already vetted businesses in its Accredited Business Directory at bbb.org or consumers can call 801-892-6009.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC