Photo by: Sandon Goodman
On Sept. 8, Utah declared a state of emergency because hurricane force winds brutally interrupted its citizen’s lives during the night before. The heaviest damage was to the cities from Salt Lake to Logan.
Most Utah residents noticed the wind getting stronger the night of Sept. 7 before they went to bed, or when they first woke up the next morning. “It kept me awake,” said Lisa Sims, a South Ogden resident. She wasn’t alone either. Many residents reported a loss of sleep during the night of the storm.
“It tore down my fence,” said Sims, clearly distraught about the situation. However, pets were not the only ones affected by the storm. There were multiple injuries and one death.
While many news channels had warned residents about the storm multiple days before it happened, Utahns continued about making plans and going on as usual. Even while the storm was going, many still continued to go driving and make their way to work.
“I was going to see someone for lunch,” said Clearfield resident Izaiah Soto after being asked if any plans were canceled due to the storm. While Soto reports no damage to his house or any major disruptions to his home life, he does recall his school getting closed down for the day.
In fact, Soto was not the only one who escaped school for the day. Four whole districts shut their doors along with six other individual schools following suit due to the winds. Many schools and districts were closed for multiple days. Including Bonneville High which cancelled school for two days and then switched to online learning for another day or so.
Along with school closures, many businesses closed up as well due to a major loss of power and/or wifi. Nearly, 58,000 power outages were reported that Tuesday morning, and the remainder of the day took more power and wifi from residents, many without either of those things for almost a week.
Sims had also reported a loss of power and wifi, but she was only rid of them for a day. Others were not so lucky. Many people found themselves bringing their groceries to refrigerators at work, throwing away perfectly good food, and eating out multiple times during the following week.
With many residents stuck in their home with no power or wifi, frustration and anxiety was spread quickly throughout local communities. Multiple last minute living styles were created and change was forced upon those Utah cities.
However, it did not take long for Utahns to recover. Fences were quickly rebuilt, local residents joined to help clean fallen trees in their neighborhoods and schools, power companies worked hard to help them gain power back, and everything soon went back to normal.
Soto states, “I went to my relative’s houses to see if they were okay.” Many others checked in with family and friends as well to ensure their safety. People were reminded of the care for their loved ones, and communities and families were brought closer together.
