A polygamist community on the Utah-Arizona border where at least a dozen people were swept away to their deaths in fatal flash flooding in September is getting get help from Utah to build several ponds to collect rain runoff around town and prevent another tragedy.
The state Permanent Community Impact Fund Board, which uses royalties from mineral and energy development to give communities grants and loans, voted at their monthly meeting Thursday to approve $670,000 for the city of Hildale.
The vote followed a short presentation from Hildale Mayor Philip Barlow, who said the three ponds will help protect several hundred homes in the flood plain.
The project is on top of $1.5 million the board gave the community last October to build a bridge over a flooded wash and make other repairs.