Ammon Neighborhood Fights Flood

Emergency crews and residents worked to stop flooding in Ammon on Wednesday night.

Homes along Tildy Lane and Tildy Circle had their basements flooded with “several feet” of water that overflowed from the nearby canal Wednesday.

Paytinn Webster, 13, was babysitting at a neighbor’s home when she heard four big booms and then heard water gushing into the basement.

?I didn’t really know what to think. I was just really nervous that their basement would be OK,? Webster said.

That’s when she called her mom.

Soon the whole neighborhood along with sheriff’s deputies and fire crews came out to help fill sandbags to try and keep the overflowing canal water at bay.

Neighbors said the streets looked like rivers and waterfalls.

?I’ve been here 16 years and personally I’ve never seen the canals overflow from melting before,? Sgt. Karl Noah said.

?It seems like the Alps were melting down and the water was going through all the neighborhood so we just decided to come out and help and we’re all here,? volunteer Mekel Molifua said.

And that means everyone, of all ages, coming out to lend a hand.

Elementary school student Brady said he was helping because, ?there’s a big flood over there like a mile up and there’s one house that’s like 4 feet up. I want to be a firefighter like these people back there.?

“More phone calls were going out in the community,” said Cameron High.

High is a homeowner on Tildy Circle in Ammon, one of the neighborhoods affected by flooding.

“People started showing up with their shovels,” he said.

In the warm, and welcome light of day on Thursday, High recalled the out pour of support he saw the night before, as flood waters rushed around and into homes in his Ammon neighborhood.

“Terrific neighborhood, and we’re all just doing our job,” said Mekel Molifua on Wednesday night. He lives nearby the homes affected. He and his friends didn’t think twice as the waters rose.

“We are putting sandbags in each of the houses that were effected with water,” he told reporter Jessica Crandall on Wednesday night.

Molifua and anyone else who could get there, all toke up a sandbag, or a shovel and were just happy to help.

For High, it gave some peace of mind.

“If it does happen again, I know that the exact same people, probably even more, would be out here again,” he said.

Sgt. Noah said trees and debris blocked up the canal behind the neighborhood. He said the weather was a major factor in creating the issue.

?I think it’s the warm weather and the snow melt the past two days,? Noah said.

As for some of the helpers, they said they’re just glad they could be a part of protecting the neighborhood.