Southern Utah Stormwater Drainage at Catori Canyon Built for Heavy Rains and Potential Flash Floods
Updated: 31 minutes ago
Southern Utah is known for long stretches of dry weather followed by storms that can bring a surprising amount of water in a short time. After the ground has been dry for weeks or months, it may not absorb that sudden rainfall quickly enough. Water begins moving across the surface, collecting speed and volume as it follows the land downhill. When that happens, one question matters more than almost any other. Where does all that water go?
At Catori Canyon, that question was considered during development. Two drainage channels, one on the north side and another on the south, were built to collect runoff and direct it toward Kanab Creek.
The project involved major excavation, precast concrete culverts, fabric-lined channels, and hundreds of stone-filled gabion baskets. Each part was designed to help water move through the property without reaching homes or the places people use every day.
Building the North Channel
The north channel extends approximately 3,000 feet. It was excavated to about 7 1/2 feet deep, with a bottom width of roughly 25 feet and a top width of approximately 30 feet.
Building a channel of this size required both power and control. Crews used a Caterpillar 623 elevating scraper to cut into the terrain and shape the more detailed areas of the channel. A Caterpillar D6 dozer moved larger volumes of earth. Together, the two machines helped crews create the channel’s depth, width, and carefully shaped path through the property.
Once the excavation was complete, crews covered the floor and sides with a specialized fabric liner. Precast concrete box culverts were also installed to carry runoff beneath a future street and an existing biking and walking trail. A Caterpillar 308 excavator and a Cat 277 skid steer loader were used to move gabion rock and build gabion baskets.
These elements were designed to work as one connected system. They collect runoff, guide it through the property, carry it beneath streets and trails, and direct it toward Kanab Creek. The goal is simple. Keep stormwater away from homes and the places people use every day, reducing the risk of flooding and damage as the water moves safely through the community.
Think about that. At roughly 3,000 feet long, six feet deep, and up to 30 feet wide, the North Channel can handle roughly 1,000 cubic feet per second (CFS) and carry it to Kanab Creek, so it doesn’t end up in your living room. It’s that simple.
Constructing the Gabion Walls
The sides of the channel were reinforced with gabion baskets. For the non-engineering types among us, those are simply large wire baskets filled with rock. But what purpose do they serve? They help hold the channel together, protect the soil from washing away, and break up some of the water’s force as it moves downstream. The wire cages also make sure all that rock stays in place instead of washing toward Kanab Creek.
The baskets were manufactured in several sizes and shipped flat from Tennessee. An onsite crew assembled them by hand and placed each one along the channel.
The baskets were arranged in stepped walls, generally three or four levels high. Basket sizes varied by level, beginning with five-foot-long baskets at the bottom.
Crews filled the baskets with pieces of basalt lava rock measuring approximately three to eight inches. The basalt was quarried in Kane County and trucked to the site.
The north channel took approximately seven to eight months to complete. That time was spent preparing the land, shaping the channel, installing the liner, assembling and filling the baskets, and creating a clear route for stormwater to reach Kanab Creek.
Continuing the Work on the South Side
After finishing the north channel, crews built a similar drainage channel on the south side of Catori Canyon.
The south channel follows a more complicated path, with curves and a 90-degree turn. It also includes several precast concrete box culverts and is designed to roughly handle 550 CFS of water.
The first culvert assembly extends more than 135 feet underneath the Awenasa Street entrance. A storm-debris basin sits between that culvert and a second culvert beneath the asphalt biking and walking trail entrance.
The south channel took approximately five to six months to complete. Like the north channel, it carries runoff away from the developed areas and toward Kanab Creek.
Seeing the System During a Recent Storm
Then came a recent storm (October 2026), and we got to see months of planning and hard work come together. Runoff moved easily through the channels toward Kanab Creek and away from our living rooms. Exactly where it was supposed to go. And thus we can see that the capacity of the channels can handle much more than the October 2026 flood levels.
Why Southern Utah Stormwater Drainage Matters
When people are looking for a place to call home, they naturally think about the views, the surrounding landscape, nearby trails, and all the things that make a place feel right. They’re picturing the life they could build there. Southern Utah stormwater drainage probably isn’t part of that picture. They aren’t lying awake at night worrying that the next heavy rain might send floodwater through their property and damage their home. But when heavy rain arrives, where that water goes becomes critically important.
Catori Canyon’s drainage system took more than a year of combined construction work across the two channels. That meant extensive grading, locally sourced basalt, gabion baskets assembled and filled by hand, culverts running beneath streets and trails, and a basin built to catch storm debris.
Most days, no one will think twice about any of it. That’s a good thing. The water has somewhere to go, and it isn’t through the places where people live, walk, drive, and spend their time.
Storms give us a chance to see that planning pay off. It doesn’t mean every storm can be predicted or that flooding is impossible. It simply means Catori Canyon was built with Southern Utah’s weather in mind, including the days when the dry desert suddenly gets a lot of water.
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