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Part of Nebo Loop Road has eroded away and created a waterfall of flooding in Payson Canyon, pictured Monday, May 22, 2023.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

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Part of Nebo Loop Road and the dirt underneath it has eroded away and created a waterfall of flooding in Payson Canyon, pictured Monday, May 22, 2023.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

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Part of Nebo Loop Road has eroded away due to flooding in Payson Canyon, pictured Monday, May 22, 2023. County officials have built a small dam around the flow to contain it to one area.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

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Part of Nebo Loop Road has eroded away due to flooding, causing structural damage to nearby parts of the road in Payson Canyon, pictured Monday, May 22, 2023.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

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This photo taken Monday, May 22, 2023, shows part of Nebo Loop Road, which eroded away and created a waterfall in Payson Canyon due to flooding.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

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Part of Nebo Loop Road has eroded away and created a waterfall of flooding in Payson Canyon, pictured Monday, May 22, 2023.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

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Part of Nebo Loop Road has eroded away and created a waterfall of flooding in Payson Canyon, pictured Monday, May 22, 2023.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

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The Utah County Sheriff’s Office on Monday reported major flooding 9 miles up Payson Canyon on Nebo Loop Road near the Shram Creek trailhead.

Snowpack has melted and flowed across the two-lane road, eroding away most of the outer lane and a large chunk of dirt underneath it in a semicircle, creating a drop-off in the road and a cascade of water down into the canyon.

“They’ve got the infrastructure, the drainage, the culverts and things like that. They usually handle it in a normal year, but this year there was so much more snow to melt, creating bigger streams where there are small streams or creating streams where there usually aren’t any, and it wears the road down,” said Spencer Cannon, public information officer for the sheriff’s department.

Officials are yet to determine if the large flow of water was caused by a blockage of debris in a culvert or if a substantial amount of water came down the mountain at once.

No homes or individuals have been affected by this flooding thus far. Payson Canyon as well as many others throughout the state, such as Alpine Loop Scenic Byway, Big Cottonwood Canyon, Guardsman Pass, Diamond Fork and others have been closed since winter due to potential avalanches and flooding from the record-breaking amount of snowpack received this year.

This closure will not affect major traffic as Nebo Loop Road is not part of any main highway through the state. Payson Canyon is a popular place to hike, especially as the weather warms up. Canyons throughout the state typically open by Memorial Day, but Payson Canyon’s opening will be delayed by about two weeks this year due to the damage done to the road, according to the county sheriff’s office.

Utah County Public Works and the U.S. Forest Service are working together to clear debris and make repairs to the road. There have also been a few areas of road damage due to flooding in the right fork of Hobble Creek Canyon. County officials are warning residents and visitors to stay out of the canyons until further notice.

“It’s not just a problem unique to Utah County. These are problems that I know are being encountered by people all over Utah, and especially up in Northern Utah where they’ve also had problems with roads washing away in the canyons. We’re just one little part of that happening here,” Cannon said.

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