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A church parking lot impacted by a mudslide is pictured Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Provo.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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A church parking lot impacted by a mudslide is pictured Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Provo.

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

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A microburst of rain Wednesday night caused a mudslide in the Buckley Draw burn scar, damaging a church and causing road closures Thursday.

The storm poured about an inch of rain into the draw in just over 30 minutes during the 10 p.m. hour Wednesday, according to Provo Public Works Director Gordon Haight, prompting mud and debris to spill down the mountain.

An existing debris channel prevented mud from affecting homes near the draw. However, when the slide reached a development at the end of the channel, it overflowed debris basins on the property and spilled onto The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints property, Slate Canyon Drive and Nevada Avenue.

Haight said mud piled up 5 feet on the east side of the church building, knocking in a kitchen door and spreading inside the building.

“The mud went into the hallway and got about 3 feet into about three of the classrooms, so that’s the most significant damage to the building,” Haight said.

The mud pressed up against the glass doors of the main entrance but did not break through, Haight added. Landscaping around the church was also damaged, as was a vinyl fence on the east perimeter of the property.

Cleanup crews responded immediately Wednesday night. By Thursday afternoon, Provo City said it had hauled away 13,440 tons of debris in 960 trucks.

More than 200 volunteers showed up with buckets and shovels at the Latter-day Saint meetinghouse Thursday morning to assist with the efforts.

Nevada Avenue and Slate Canyon Drive were closed by the city during cleanup.

The damage came despite preparations the city made to protect the church in case of a debris flow after the Buckley Draw Fire charred much of the vegetation on the west side of the mountain last week.

The city placed concrete barriers in front of the church, extended the debris channel and placed debris basins in the development above the church, according to Haight. The preparation would have held up if the mudslide had been similar to one that struck the area in 2004, he said.

But Wednesday night’s storm overwhelmed the infrastructure.

“We knew that rain was coming over the next couple of weeks, so that’s why all the improvements were being made during that first week,” Haight said. “But this was a very intense rainfall that definitely exceeded what happened in 2004.”

Prior to the storm, some residents expressed concern that the lack of vegetation and infrastructure at the excavated development could lead to greater debris flow risk.

A letter sent to church members from the Provo Utah Stake president Wednesday morning announced the installation of concrete barriers by the church and said, “In the past, a berm, fencing and cement barriers were installed to help protect the Colonial Building and surrounding neighborhood. However, with the new housing development east of the building, those cement barriers were removed.”

Haight said the events would have occurred similarly even if the property had not been cleared due to the magnitude of the slide.

“The vegetation could have taken out some of the speed, but it wouldn’t have been sufficient or noticeable, because the material went clear to State Street,” he said. “When you look at the actual event, there wasn’t really any scour or erosion of the hillside where the developer had dug out the material. They had a couple of locations that acted as berms and held back some of the material, so not all the material made it to the church because of how they were contouring the land.”

Haight told residents to watch Provo City’s social media pages for street openings and detour removals.