PIUTE COUNTY, Utah — Businesses across Piute, Beaver and Sevier counties are struggling after wildfires and flash flooding hurt tourism during one of the busiest times of the year.
Restaurant, motel and outdoor recreation owners say the back-to-back disasters have kept visitors away and caused major financial problems for small businesses that depend on summer travelers.
Burn scars left by the Cottonwood Fire increased the risk of flash flooding after heavy rain moved through central Utah. Floodwaters carried mud and debris across roads, campgrounds and recreation areas that are popular with tourists.
Dan Groves, owner of Hoovers River Resort in Marysvale, said wildfire smoke caused many visitors to cancel their trips to southern Utah.
“People still were just changing their plans entirely to just not come to Utah,” Groves said. “It sounded like the whole state was on fire.”
Groves said the losses have been especially difficult because tourism businesses in the area have already faced several hard years.
“It was the third summer in a row that we had pretty much the entire summer cancelled and less through traffic for the restaurant,” Groves said. “We were seeing some writing on the wall that was pretty grim.”
Businesses faced another challenge after officials issued a boil-water advisory in parts of Piute County when flood runoff affected local water systems.
At Big Rock Candy Mountain Restaurant, employee Carley Veltri said the fires, flooding and water problems have made it difficult for businesses to recover.
“People convoyed out of here,” Veltri said. “When the fires were happening, now we have flooding. That’s something else.”
Veltri said summer tourism is extremely important for rural Utah communities.
“It’s killing us all,” she said. “Utah is a seasonal state. All the revenue basically comes from the summertime and now since there is no business there is no revenue.”
Groves said many business owners feel overwhelmed by the repeated disasters.
“It’s not because we are bad business owners,” he said. “It’s because we’ve had these natural disasters over and over again.”
Even with the challenges, business owners say they are continuing to stay open and hope visitors return before the summer season is lost completely.
A GoFundMe has been created to help local business owners: Fundraiser by Ahtianna DeJesus : Cottonwood Fire: Support Hoovers and Local Recovery!
