Flood of 1983 Historical Marker to be unveiled

Staff Writer | Lehi Free Press

The Lehi Historical Society will unveil a historical marker for the 1983 flood at 89 W. 500 North on Thursday, October 23, at 6 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend.

“Talk to anyone who experienced the flooding of that year,” said Lara Bangerter, director of the Lehi Historical Society, “they always marvel at how the community came together to fight the water. Their efforts and example are absolutely worth a historical marker.”

She went on, “Church was let out so sandbags could be filled. Women worked together to make and pass out sandwiches. It was a disaster that they quickly figured out would be most effectively fought together. An every-man-for-himself attitude, with every homeowner placing sandbags around his own home, was not going to work. They had to use the available sandbags to create waterways that would manage the water in general, thus benefiting everyone. People were terrified of the safety of their homes, and yet they came together, trusted in the plan, and conquered. No homes were lost.”

Speakers at the short unveiling program will include former Lehi mayor Bert Wilson, Jen Adamson Hall Lynch, whose childhood home was flooded, and Donna Barnes, who wrote for the Lehi Free Press at the time. Following the program, a light refreshment of Muddy Buddies will be available. Get your “Survivor 1983 Lehi Flood” collector pin for $8. Replica “Lehi Flood” baseball caps will be available for $20. Gift shop items can also be purchased at lehihistory.org.

A combination of record snowfall, saturated grounds, warm rains, and temperatures in the 90s over Memorial Day weekend in 1983 created the perfect storm.

The waters that run off the mountains above Alpine flow through Highland and into Lehi by way of Dry Creek in north Lehi, which then runs under State Street and into the culvert at Lehi Elementary. Once the culvert filled, the water pushed down to Utah Lake from downtown Lehi.

Julian Mercer, head of the Emergency Preparedness Committee for the Lehi 10th Ward at the time, wrote in his report on the event, “The purchase of sandbags by the individuals presented our first major problem, because those people wanted to use the bags for their own homes … the committee soon realized this could not be an individual effort … we must work together to keep the water in the ditch, thus protecting everyone. The beehive concept soon came to fruition. The battle could not be fought from house to house; this would be an impossible task.”

As Lehi residents prepared for the worst, hundreds of people turned out to help. The city brought dirt in from the sandpit to the Lehi Round-Up Rodeo Grounds and other locations where volunteers bagged and delivered it.

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On May 19, the community filled nearly 1,500 sandbags. It wasn’t until the early Sunday morning hours of May 29 that the high and rising waters did what everyone was dreading. The mountain had spent the day quenching in the sun. It just took until the middle of the night for the waters to reach Lehi.

The men of Lehi organized to fill round-the-clock shifts to patrol for breaches and debris that could clog the paths made for the water. In the end, the sandbags and community effort minimized damage by guiding the water through streets that had been turned into temporary rivers. Amazingly, there was damage to homes, property, roads and bridges, but no homes were lost.

The location of the new historical marker will be near one of the hardest hit locations, according to Mercer’s report.

The marker will be the 15th of the Lehi Historical Marker Program and the last to be installed this year. The program was founded in 2022, when the Lehi Historical Society secured funding through a generous donation and continued support from the John David and Danaca Hadfield family of HADCO Construction, as well as a large Lehi City PARC grant.

For more information on the unveiling at the Lehi Historical Society, see lehihistory.org or call 801-768-1570.