Floodwaters tore through Sabrina Dubay's front yard in Orderville on September 28, carrying a landslide of mud and debris that nearly swallowed her ATV, trailer and camper whole. Only a beam kept the equipment from sliding down the riverbank and into the churning current. By the time it was over, mud had pushed into her entryway, laundry room and bathroom, and a culvert from across the street had washed straight into the river.
Dubay was away from home when the flood hit, but her partner was trapped upstairs with the dog, unable to get out of the house, according to the seed story as KSL reported. Dubay, a Massachusetts transplant who moved to Orderville with her partner, told the outlet, “I've never seen anything like this, ever.” She said the flooding was the first of its kind in town since the late 1970s or early 1980s, per her own recollection.
Neighbors Arrive Within Minutes
What happened next became the heart of the story. Dubay's friends and neighbors showed up within three minutes of her phone call, arriving with shovels, buckets and tractors to clear mud and debris and pull her camper and ATV back from the riverbank before the river could claim them. Dubay described the scene as chaotic and upsetting, but also, in her words, a cool communal experience, and she grew emotional discussing how grateful she was for the response.
The rapid turnout traces back to Orderville's roots. The town was founded in 1875 under LDS Church President Brigham Young as a communal settlement practicing the “United Order,” in which residents held property in common and ran a self-sufficient community until 1885, according to the Town of Orderville. U.S. Route 89 passes through Orderville. Today the town counts roughly 602 residents and sits along the East Fork of the Virgin River in Kane County's Long Valley, per Data Commons.
A Regional Storm, Not a Freak Local Event
The flood that struck Dubay's property was part of a much larger weather system. Moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Polo combined with a separate storm system to trigger widespread desert river surges and flash flooding across Utah and the broader Southwest on September 28 and 29, as reported by PBS News. Overnight rainfall of 1.00 to 1.40 inches fell across the headwaters of the Virgin River and its tributaries, sending river levels spiking rapidly and breaching banks in both Orderville and neighboring Glendale, KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson reported on Facebook.
The same storm stranded people well beyond Dubay's yard. Johnson relayed reports that people were trapped in the Barracks area, a claim not confirmed by independent authorities, and that three more were stuck in Heaps Canyon. The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City had issued an urgent Flash Flood Warning for Kane County washes and slot canyons ahead of the storm, citing rainfall rates exceeding 0.5 inches per hour capable of producing life-threatening runoff.
Above-Average Pacific Storm Activity
Above-average Pacific storm activity has been consistent with El Niño. A Hoodline Salt Lake City forecast mentioned a flood watch in southern and central Utah.
The exposure facing homeowners like Dubay is significant. In Utah, 88.7% of expected annual flood losses fall outside FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Areas, while only roughly 3% of U.S. homes carry active federal flood insurance as of 2026, according to a MoneyGeek analysis of FEMA data.
For now, Dubay's home has been left with mud tracked through its entryway, laundry room and bathroom, while most of the damage played out in the yard rather than inside the house. Whether county or state officials plan any drainage upgrades along Highway 89 in response remains an open question.
