This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Four South Weber homes were voluntarily evacuated overnight as heavy rain triggered a minor mudslide, but no injuries or damage were reported and homeowners were allowed to return later Friday morning.
Davis County Undersheriff Brent Peters said the homeowners, Davis County and South Weber public works officials were assessing the potential for more serious flooding or earth movement over the weekend, when more rainfall is expected.
Homeowners were advised to remain prepared to leave on short notice.
What Peters characterized as "not a mudslide, but more like sloughing" of saturated soil, triggered the precautionary evacuations about 2:30 a.m. Friday. First reports of concerns over heavy rainfall and potential flooding had come in about 11 p.m. Thursday.
In the wake of more than an inch of rainfall, the earth slippage occurred in a retention pond on a hillside above a nearby canal, but did not compromise the canal itself. Work was underway with a track hoe to cut diversion channels to safeguard the canal against any further slippage or flooding over the weekend.
"I'd say that the closest any of the [mud] came to any of the homes was about 50 yards," Peters said.
However, he added that public safety crews remained on alert, since the sloughing occurred in generally the same area as far more serious flooding and mudslide activity that came during a wet spell in 2007.
The homes, in the area of 7700 South and 1650 East, generally are located between the canal on the north and the Weber River to the south.
Twitter: @remims