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MILLCREEK — A small flood in Salt Lake County Wednesday morning marked the second time in a week that someone caused flooding on purpose.
The latest incident was triggered by vandalism to a flood-control gate at the Ben Franklin Park, 3450 South and 850 East. The water mainly poured into a basin that's designed to catch and hold floodwater temporarily.
But the worry is a big one for flood-control workers. It appears that someone is deliberately trying to touch off flooding for unknown reasons, and they seem to have a working knowledge of flood-control structures.
Someone entered the park in the middle of the night, probably shortly after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. The vandal, or vandals, attacked a flood-control gate with a heavy tool such as a bolt-cutter. Flood-control workers who visited the park at 5am to monitor stream flows found that someone had cut through a padlock, a chain link fence, two cables and a chain. The gate dropped, plugging up Mill Creek and diverting creek water into a detention basin.
"Well, that is frustrating," said Scott Baird, director of flood control for Salt Lake County. "We spend a lot of county money to build these facilities to protect people, and somebody's using them for the purpose of possibly flooding homes instead of protecting homes."
The basin slowly drained, as it's designed to do following a real flood. A neighborhood resident named Trina, who did not want her last name used, said groundwater leaked into at least three homes. "So this wasn't just a 'let's flood the park.' It's damaging people," Trina said.
A week ago, an even more sophisticated act of vandalism caused flooding in Creekside Park. There's now speculation the two incidents are related.
"Maybe I'm too cynical," Trina said, "but it doesn't shock me. It just makes me mad."
In the first attack, the vandal seemed knowledgeable about an electronic control system. One theory is that a disgruntled insider is on the prowl. "They obviously knew what they wanted to accomplish," Baird said. "I don't know who. We don't have any evidence of anyone within our organization that would do this. It's being investigated by the Unified Police Department."
A spokesman for the department said police are actively investigating and following leads, but they don't know who did it.
Meanwhile, flood control officials are planning to put on heavy-duty chains and locks on the gates and conduct more patrols to keep an eye on things.
Email: hollenhorst@ksl.com
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