**I Have NEVER Seen Flooding Like This at Lake Powell — Transcript & Summary | SozAI**
Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/flooding-lake-powell-never-seen-like/

Desert Rat Explorations documents heavy rain flooding around Lake Powell, following runoff from Page and Wahweap Creek and examining how flash floods erode and carry lakebed sediment.

## Key Takeaways

- Runoff below Glen Canyon Dam does not help refill Lake Powell, while upstream creeks like Wahweap feed the reservoir directly.
- Flash floods erode old lakebed sediment and redistribute it, changing shorelines and landforms.
- Exposed lakebed mud becomes extremely soft and dangerous when saturated by rain.
- Flash flood and lightning risks make storm-chasing in this desert terrain hazardous.

## What the video covers

- Heavy rain near Lake Powell sends runoff into the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam, so the water does not refill the reservoir.
- The creator explores Page runoff flowing toward the canyon and the risk of flash flooding in northern Arizona and southern Utah.
- Lake Powell's exposed lakebed at Lone Rock is composed of sediment deposits that accumulated underwater when the lake was higher.
- Wahweap Creek has cut through these old deposits, and strong floods can carry the material downstream toward the lake.
- The video discusses the Domney Formation, a sediment layer named after Floyd Domney of the Bureau of Reclamation.
- Muddy, saturated lakebed sediment is hazardous to walk on, with the creator sinking and encountering quicksand-like conditions.
- The creator repeatedly crosses creeks and monitors approaching storms, emphasizing the danger of flash floods and lightning.
- Upstream rain near Big Water, Utah can send water down the same channel that passes Lone Rock, with archive footage of past floods shown.
- Floods carry sediment, debris, and trees into the reservoir, but Lake Powell's sediment buildup behind Glen Canyon Dam is relatively small.
- The storms change both the water volume in the lake and the shape of the land beneath it.

## Chapters

1. 00:00 Storm Runoff Heading Into the Colorado River
2. 00:36 Page Runoff and Lone Rock Overview
3. 01:16 Sediment Flowing Toward Lake Powell
4. 02:16 Wahweap Creek and the Domney Formation
5. 03:04 Crossing the Muddy Lakebed at Lone Rock
6. 04:26 Storm Approaching and Retreating from Lone Rock
7. 06:26 Upstream Flood Risk Near Big Water, Utah
8. 08:20 Sediment Buildup and Lake Powell's Shoreline

Answers

## Questions about this video

Why doesn't the runoff from Page help refill Lake Powell?

The creator explains that the water from Page enters the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam, so it flows downstream rather than into the reservoir. Only creeks upstream of the dam, such as Wahweap Creek, feed Lake Powell directly.

What is the sediment at Lone Rock and where did it come from?

The sediment is layered mud and sand that was deposited underwater when Lake Powell was higher. As the lake dropped, these deposits were exposed, and flood waters from Wahweap Creek are now eroding and carrying them downstream.

What safety hazards does the creator describe during the storm?

The creator warns of flash floods that can rapidly rise in dry washes, lightning strikes during storms, and saturated mud that can sink a person. He crosses creeks carefully and retreats when storms approach.

## Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

00:00

Speaker A

Heavy rain is hitting Lake Powell and all of this runoff is pouring into the Colorado River. But there's a catch.

00:06

Speaker A

This water is entering the river below Glen Canyon Dam. So none of it [music] is helping refill the reservoir. But north of here, another creek leads straight into Lake Powell. [music] And I want to see what this storm is doing to

00:18

Speaker A

it. Welcome back, guys. We're here above Glen Canyon Dam. We're going to see all the flooding that's happening right now.

00:23

Speaker A

A lot of water coming through. So like, subscribe. [music] Let's get started. The National Weather Service warned that heavy rain could cause flooding across northern Arizona and southern Utah. Dry washes turn [music] into fastmoving streams. And sometimes the worst floods

00:36

Speaker A

come from miles away. But there's something [music] else that water can carry. And at Lone Rock, there's a massive example of what happens when it starts moving. So over here is the Page runoff. This is all the water coming

00:47

Speaker A

from Paige, Arizona, flowing down to the canyon, which we're going to check out right now.

00:53

Speaker A

Well, that's a good amount of water. It's a lot of forest. It's not necessarily too sketchy unless it blows you right across the cliff over here.

01:00

Speaker A

All right, we're getting closer to the edge of Glen Canyon. Northern Arizona is getting hit with another round of rain. All the water from Paige is pouring into the Colorado River, Glen Canyon Dam behind me. But further upstream in Lake Pal, there's

01:16

Speaker A

something that will change the shorelines. We're going to go check that out. Look at that right there. Wow. All of that water pouring into the Colorado River, adding a little bit of sediment going further downstream towards Lee's Ferry and Horseshoe Band.

01:35

Speaker A

First you need to swim, then you need to fly. If you fall in that Glen Canyon Dam right there, water flowing into the Colorado River. Okay, let's go to Lake Pal. When Lake Pal was higher, layers of sand and mud collected underwater. As

01:49

Speaker A

the lake [music] dropped, those deposits became exposed. Now, Waw Weeip Creek has cut through these old deposits. Strong floods [music] can pick up some of that material and carry it further downstream. But here's the question. If the flood washes this mud away, does it

02:03

Speaker A

actually leave Lake Pal or does it just settle somewhere else? Here we are at the Wawweep Creek. Look at all the lake deposits here. It's been cut out by erosion, but not much since the last time I was here a couple weeks

02:16

Speaker A

ago. Then you can see this side. It's pretty big. I guess we can call this Domney formation. It's funny because Riverrats, I believe, named the sediment layer above Lake Pal in height. They named it Domney, which is Floyd Domney

02:29

Speaker A

from the Bureau of Reclamation, who was the uh uh commissioner at the time Glen Canyon Dam was being built. So, they call it the Domney Formation. So, I think this would be called Dom Formation right here. It's really crazy to think

02:39

Speaker A

about that over the years when Lake Pal was hired that all of this sediment was depositing here underneath the lake.

02:44

Speaker A

Now, it's exposed and being washed downstream. But what is downstream? It's Lake Pal. So, we're going to go check it out. Should I cross a creek when it just flooded upstream?

03:04

Speaker A

I'm seriously over taking my shoes off crossing creeks, but timing is of the essence. We don't want a flood to come downstream. Okay, we made it to the other side of Lone Rock and all of this lake sediment right here when it's

03:14

Speaker A

getting wet, it's sinking me. I'm surprised, but it makes sense. This stuff is coming from Wawweep Creek, which is pretty much just the worst mud you can ever deal with in your life up at the Tropic Shell or the moon as we

03:24

Speaker A

call it. But this stuff has been underwater for a long time. So obviously when it gets saturated again, it gets all nice and sticky and muddy. Ooey ooey. But the opposite side of Lone Rock on this rainy afternoon. We have another

03:36

Speaker A

storm coming in from the south heading north. So we'll get to our vantage points over here.

03:45

Speaker A

If we get stranded [music] again like the last video, we're going in that cave. I don't even know if I could scale that.

03:55

Speaker A

More exposed lake bed around Lon. Muddy, muddy, muddy. But there she is right there.

04:01

Speaker A

Seriously, trekking through this step just adds more weight. A little workout. There it is. There's the mouth of Wede Creek. [music] Well, behind me is Lake Pow. Further in the distance. So, we'll probably go back to the other side of here and lightning

04:15

Speaker A

and thunder. I want to get out of here probably. But there's the mud and sediment going into Lake Pal, at least from Wawweep Creek. So, a lot of the sediment inside Wipe Creek is fine grain sediment and there's larger pebbles and

04:26

Speaker A

boulders and stuff like that when we get a flash flood coming through. But you can see right here I'm on Lake Pal shoreline. You can see where the lake used to be and it goes down. All right, we don't want to be too far away. I'm

04:36

Speaker A

going to definitely cross the creek again and get to the other side. But this goes to show the remnants of where the lake used to be. This probably blew over from Lone Rock Beach. We'll we'll take it back. But Waw Wee Creek has

04:47

Speaker A

eroded so much of this lake sediment from like a couple months ago in June when I was here last. It's dug in with those big flash floods that come through here.

04:57

Speaker A

I guess it's not that deep when it comes to saturation, but it's definitely saturated. Got a little inlet right here from the last flood that's just been sitting there. But we're going to go down. We'll try to cross on the other

05:08

Speaker A

side before it gets too much lightning over here. Thank god it's that quick sand. The rain started to pour when I was at Lone Rock.

05:18

Speaker A

And with this risk of flooding increasing, I decided to head back out before getting trapped [music] by a flash flood.

05:24

Speaker A

I wonder how deep this is over here. We're going to go on this side.

05:28

Speaker A

Hope it doesn't sink too much down. Oh yeah, good amount. Okay, made it across just in case a flood does come through. We're good now. But we're always in the path of lightning. So, let's get out of the path.

05:44

Speaker A

Be able to get through this mud sediment. Sediment layers. Pretend there's a flood coming and you need to get out.

05:54

Speaker A

[clears throat] This is the way out. Run. Run for your life. [snorts] Okay. All right.

06:06

Speaker A

All right, we're out of the zone now. We just go through the marsh land of Lone Rock. Thought I had more time before the storm's coming, but these storms are hauling butt. They're really going. But damn, with this water, that is such a

06:17

Speaker A

good view. Starting to rain a lot more. Try to get back to the car.

06:23

Speaker A

What is the likelihood of getting struck by lightning? One in 400,000. Got better odds in Vegas. Some people hate rainy days, but I love them. This is good, especially for the Southwest. We've been parched for a while. Well, that'll pop

06:36

Speaker A

someone's tire. Let's get that out of the way. Someone say lightning rod. All right, let's get in there.

06:46

Speaker A

Hi, Lone Rock. Luckily, I clean my cars in our household. Okay, game plan. Let's actually head up to Wawweep Creek in Big Water. Waweep Creek begins further north into Utah. It runs through miles of desert before reaching Lake Powell.

07:02

Speaker A

Rain [music] falling upstream can send water down the same channel that passes Lone Rock. Well, no flood up here yet.

07:08

Speaker A

Looks like we had plenty of time over there at Lone Rock, but safe than sorry.

07:12

Speaker A

[music] So, while we creek above Lone Rock, we're near Big Water, Utah. But this is the creek. Everything upstream [music] of Lone Rock will flow through up here. I have some old archive footage of an actual flood coming through here,

07:23

Speaker A

which I'll show you right now. All of of that water comes from side drainages like that, something like that over there, further up into Utah. And those flash floods carry a large amount of sediment, debris, sticks, trees, bushes, pine cones, all flow through

08:12

Speaker A

here, then to Lake Pal. Lake Pal needs water and it gets water from creeks like this. But it also creates a large amount of sediment flowing into the reservoir.

08:21

Speaker A

The Bureau of Reclamation released some images and it shows actually how much sediment is behind Gling Canyon Dam, which is not that much. You could see the old Coffer Dam that was a large amount of sediment that they let just be

08:33

Speaker A

buried when Lake Pal was literally created in 1963. But okay, let's head to Lake Pal before this third storm hits.

08:39

Speaker A

Lake Pal collects [music] water from a huge area across the Colorado River Basin. Some of that runoff comes from smaller [music] creeks and washes around the lake. The United States Geological Survey says Lake Pal has lost about 1.83

08:51

Speaker A

83 million [music] acre feet of storage capacity between 1963 and 2018. This means [music] in simple terms, the lake is filling with mud. That's nearly 7% less of the lakes's total storage capacity. A lot of that loss comes from

09:06

Speaker A

sediment brought in by the Colorado and San Juan rivers. But at Lone Rock, it's a little different. Flood waters can pick [music] up this sediment that was already inside the reservoir basin and move it somewhere else. So, how much mud

09:18

Speaker A

do these storms actually move? Well, we're over here at the coes or what used to be the coes. These used to be a popular spot. Not anymore. But this is what I want to see right here. There is

09:28

Speaker A

where we were. The entrance from Wawweep Creek that goes into Lone Rock Bay. So, these storms will bring in a lot of good water, but it just brings in also more sediment, especially when it flash floods. The coes. This used to be a

09:43

Speaker A

popular spot back in the 80s and 90s. Literally, I remember coming here probably once in 2011 when the water was actually up high. But I guess it's too much of a hazard. All it is is cliffs over there. So, I guess park service

09:55

Speaker A

doesn't really want people over here. But we'll go over to Waw Bay over there and get some shots. But first, let's actually go check this out. The cliffs.

10:02

Speaker A

My feet are still totally soaked from walking across the creek. Okay, Lone Rock Bay leading into Waweet Bay. Looks like we got a house boater taking a house boat out to Ice Cream Canyon in October. Really, this is the time of the

10:15

Speaker A

year to come out. There's not a lot of tourists. Everybody went home. All the people in Utah went back home. School season. But yeah, it's kind of isolation out here. The old aggregate pile for Glen Canyon Dam. But it makes sense why

10:26

Speaker A

Park Service doesn't want people out here. It's just cliffs leading down to the shoreline. Here's what we know.

10:32

Speaker A

These recent storms brought heavy rain and flash flooding became [music] an issue across Utah and Arizona. At Lone Rock, the exposed lake bed shows how much erosion can happen when water cuts through old sediment. But there's one thing I can't tell you from today's

10:45

Speaker A

footage [music] alone. Exactly how much sediment this storm carried into Lake Pal. To figure that out, we need measurements of both the water's flow [music] and the sediment moving with it.

10:54

Speaker A

A lot of Lake Pal's side canyons are not measured that way. So, is [music] the USGS right about that 7% or is there more sediment below the lake than we think?

11:05

Speaker A

Well, this is what's left of Auxiliary Steline launch ramp. Rocks here. I'm surprised the boiler plates aren't down, but I guess rocks are a better natural kind of traction. And that's where the boat launches. Then you have the other

11:20

Speaker A

docks over here. Wow. But auxiliary state line is the only ramp you could really launch from besides Analopee when they put in their new valet ramp in the bay. Little bit of a bird paradise over there with the buoys. This is the end of

11:32

Speaker A

the docks right here. This is where you launch your boats right now. And as the lake continues to drop, I wonder how much this is going to adapt. So, it's cool. They actually extended this, put this out here for other boers to

11:41

Speaker A

actually wait while you launch. We got Bro going out on a jet ski, probably doing some fishing or going out to his housebo. But this rain is continuous.

11:49

Speaker A

It's like on, off, on, off, but it's consistent. It's not like a big monsoon that just downpours in one spot, then continues on. What I noticed is definitely all the driftwood that's on the launch ramp. Apparently, there must

11:58

Speaker A

have been a good flash flood coming from Walweep Creek, of course, then coming over to here. Now's the water. Oh, that's actually not that bad. I guess we'll continue on to a better vantage point to get a high above to see

12:10

Speaker A

everything that's going on. Nothing like enjoying the views at the Wawweep overlook, but storms and [music] storms on and off all day. Good amount of moisture coming through. You know that we've needed [music] it for a while now. There's Wawweep right there. Then

12:28

Speaker A

Warm Creek in the background. Former shell of itself. Not really a bay too much these days. Then Wawei Marina stuck in its channel. Then you got that rock coming out. Always like to show that we have a house boater enjoying the October

12:43

Speaker A

weather. Rain can help refill Lake Pal, but the mud and sand it carries can slowly [music] take away room for water.

12:50

Speaker A

That's what makes these storms so interesting. They can [music] change both the amount of water in the lake and the shape of the land underneath it. And this isn't the first storm to hit Lake Pal recently. In another video, I look

13:00

Speaker A

at how earlier flooding across the southwest affected the reservoir. Watch this one next.

Topics: Lake Powell flooding Glen Canyon Dam Wahweap Creek Lone Rock sediment flash flood Colorado River Domney Formation Desert Rat Explorations

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