SPANISH FORK — Spanish Fork is set to receive more than $1 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as reimbursement for flood disaster expenses from last year’s runoff season.

After the historical 2022-2023 snow year, rapid snowmelt caused the Spanish Fork River to flood in May 2023.

Spanish Fork emergency manager Trevor Sperry said the city had prepared for the increased runoff by deepening and widening the river, but the “fast velocity” of the river eroded the embankment and exposed and damaged a major water line.

“We had to perform emergency measures to restabilize that bank to protect our water line because that was one of our sources of drinking water,” he said. Large boulders were placed to help stabilize the bank.

The city also completed mitigation efforts by building berms, placing sandbags and dredging the river to prevent flooding. Sperry said community members volunteered around 5,000 hours on cleanup efforts the flood.

After the initial emergency response to fix the water line, the city had to go back in and reinforce the banks more permanently.

“We just barely finished that job this summer. So it’s been a process, for sure,” he said. “All of our facilities and water lines are stable. They are operational.”

The city applied for reimbursement as part of the FEMA Public Assistance program that provides funding for eligible disaster responses. The city had to wait until it was declared a major disaster by President Joe Biden, which he did on Dec. 24, 2023.

“The $1.2 million in FEMA funding will bring the facility to pre-disaster function and capacity while making the water line stronger to prevent future damages,” the Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a statement Thursday.

The funds will reimburse about 75% of the flooding recovery’s costs and allow the city to redistribute the money into the city departments that had to front the costs.

The funding process can be slowed down when larger disasters occur around the nation, Sperry said. Although it has been a lengthy journey getting to this point, “it feels great to be at the end of the tunnel.”

“We’re about a year and a half from this disaster, and we’re finally seeing the fruits of our labors. It’s great to recoup these funds so our departments aren’t in the hole as much as they are currently,” he said.

The water department had to pay most of the cost of fixing the water line, and these funds will help the department get back to where it needs to be financially, Sperry said.

“We certainly learned a lot. This is our first presidentially declared disaster in Spanish Fork. It’s been great to learn the process and work with the federal and local governments. With the help of the community, we were able to get back to where we needed to be and recover together,” he said.