Water, mud and debris washed over Utah State Route 39, the main entrance to Ogden Canyon on Wednesday at about noon, due to a broken water main.
Vic Saunders, Region communications manager for the Utah Department of Transportation Region One, said it may take up to 24 hours to repair the damage and reopen the road.
"It rushed across the Highway, it knocked off safety barriers that protect the roadway from the cars falling into the Ogden River, and it knocked those barriers off into the river," Saunders said.
Motorists can still access the canyon via Huntsville, taking State Route 167 from the south, also known as Trapper’s loop road.
Saunders said the pipe that broke was about to be replaced in a project already underway for the past five months.
"This is the pipeline that that project is replacing. That work was just recently completed and they are getting ready to change over the water from the old line to the new line," Saunders said. "It’s kind of interesting how that failure occurred, but that work is done on the new pipeline and this line that failed will soon go out of use totally."
Saunders said he is not aware of any injuries that occurred from the incident.
Tavin Stucki is a senior in Utah State University's journalism program, and works as a news reporting intern at UPR. He lives for sports, and is the current editor in chief at The Utah Statesman.