Story by Kaitlyn Christensen

With winds reaching 102 mph Wednesday night, thousands were left without power and property damage in Northern Utah.
The results of the storm have been devastating for residents. Power lines and trees were blown over leaving damage to properties and residences without power for almost 48 hours.
“Thursday morning was a huge surprise for my family and me. Our fence blew away like a parachute and the part of our fence that happened to not be blown away was toppled on by our neighbor’s tree. It was a very frustrating experience, we were without power for most of Thursday and now that we have to repair the fence,” said Ashley Eppich about her experience with Wednesday’s storm.
In a statement, Orrin Hatch said, “I want to extend my compassion to Utahans’ who have been impacted by today’s significant wind storm.  It is always disheartening to witness the havoc Mother Nature can wreak on buildings, homes, cars and other personal belongings and my heart goes out to those who now face major repairs and structural damage.”
Residents of Northern Utah came together over the weekend to clean up the results of Wednesday’s storm.
On Sunday many volunteers donated their time and equipment to help all residents remove debris and repair damage to help get their town back to normal.
“It was a miraculous sight to see the community coming together to help one another in this time of need. What would have taken two months ended up taking eight hours on Sunday,” said Kaysville Mayor Steve Hiatt.
Many LDS Churches canceled their services on Sunday to have members volunteer their time to help with the clean up.
Not only did citizens offer their manpower and time, but also the Utah National Guard and many privately owned businesses offered equipment, machinery and manpower to help get the community back on track.
“Luckily, my next door neighbor owns his own landscaping company, he and his crew used their trucks and equipment to help me clean up my yard and anyone else who was in need of help. People I didn’t know were helping me make repairs to my fence and patio. It is great to see people come together in a time like this,” said Ryan Ludlow.
All of the debris cleaned up left residents numerous piles of waste to remove.
“It was an enormous amount of waste,” said Hiatt.
Many cities had set aside temporary landfill for its residents to remove any green waste or other materials.
In Kaysville, between 100-150 volunteer trucks were lined up to drop off the waste that they had collected.
These temporary landfills were temporary closed on Monday to begin the “recovery operations” of moving all of the collected debris from the temporary landfill to the real landfill.
Those who were not removing debris and repairing damage were passing out drinks and food.
“Our community came through, as Utahans, we know how to put others before ourselves,” said Hiatt.