Hurricane • For the second time in two months, floodwaters have devastated Steve and Alayne Isom’s Hurricane home — striking just after they finished repairs and moved all their furniture back inside.

“We literally moved our piano and my daughter’s cedar chest back into the home yesterday, about an hour before the second flood came,” Alayne Isom said.

The Isoms are not the only repeat victims. Barely two months after an Aug. 14 flood, many Hurricane residents faced a second deluge on Thursday when a powerful storm near Apple Valley dumped up to two inches of rain in just two hours, sending a torrent down Gould Wash and surging into the city, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Alex DeSmet.

According to a Oct. 22 statement posted on Hurricane’s website, the heavy rainfall triggered severe flooding in the Washington County city located roughly 20 miles east of St. George, which prompted Mayor Clark Fawcett to declare a local emergency that afternoon.

City officials’ early assessment was that severe flooding damaged about 80 homes and 50 trailers at Willow Wind RV Park. Jason Bradley, the county’s emergency services manager, said some of the homes sustained severe damage. The flooding, along with mud and debris, also damaged roads, bridges, culverts and electrical boxes, though total costs remain unknown, city officials stated in the release.

Jeffrey Klinger, Willow Wind’s maintenance supervisor, said the only vehicle to sustain major damage came after a shipping container swept through a block wall, striking a trailer and opening a breach that allowed floodwater and silt and other debris into the park.

“As many as 80 other trailers may have got their tires wet, but that was the extent of [the damage],” he said.

City officials declined to elaborate on cleanup efforts or update damage reports beyond Thursday’s statement. “The city is still cleaning up and assessing the situation from the flooding event,” Weston Walker, Hurricane’s assistant public works director, said in a text to The Tribune.

The Washington County Water Conservancy District confirmed it is assisting with flood-response efforts, dispatching crews to assist the city and providing personnel and equipment where needed. Several crew members worked onsite, assisting with flood mitigation efforts using pumps, generators and skid steers to help remove water, protect property and support recovery operations, according to district officials.

“We live in and love this community,” said David Jessop, operations manager for the district. “It was amazing to see how many showed up to help. We’re grateful to have been a part of the effort.”

Starting over

Prior to the flooding, city officials said in the release they notified residents in floodplain areas of the impending flood wave about 8:30 a.m. But Alayne Isom said she didn’t receive any warning until about 11:30 a.m., two hours after the flood waters inundated their home.

For the Isoms, the second flood came shortly after $80,000 worth of repairs from the first flood were completed. The August flood brought mud and water into several rooms, requiring new flooring and the removal of drywall and insulation and a legion of other repairs.

“We just had new carpet installed Tuesday and moved all our furniture back in the house on Wednesday, the day before this second flood,” she lamented. “We also recently finished redoing our front yard, removing two trees and putting in new rock and curbing.”

This time, according to the Isoms, the water was deeper, spread inside the house and rose even higher in the backyard, toppling a brick wall and sending water cascading into the home of a couple who recently welcomed the arrival of a new baby.

“We went 20 years without a single incident, and now this flooding has happened twice,” said Steve Isom, who described the ongoing cleanup and repairs as a recurring nightmare. “So we have to start over.”