The twisted wreckage of two vans that were washed away in a flash flood with 16 women and children inside.
At least 12 people died when two vehicles were swept away by raging floodwaters Monday. Black expressed his gratitude for the outpouring of support after his wife and children were swept away in a flash food Monday.
Community members look along a stream after a flash flood.
“My deepest condolences are with the victims and loved ones of those killed in flash flooding along the Arizona-Utah border last night”, he said in a statement, thanking law enforcement and search-and-rescue crews for their quick action.
Residents have described the floods as the worst in living memory for Hildale and its sister town of Colorado City, in Arizona. But dozens of adventure-seekers go anyway, eager to rappel down the colorful, undulating sandstone walls.
Cox told The Associated Press that the boy was about 9 or 10 years old and lost his mother and several siblings, who were also in the cars.
Park rangers commonly warn hikers about flood risks during monsoon season and did the same with this group before the hikers entered the canyon.
This item has been corrected to show that the federal search team looking for the missing boy is one of 28 federal search teams and is the only one participating.
Originally there were 16 people in two vehicles, three women and the rest children.
More than six-tenths of an inch fell over the park in less than an hour Monday afternoon, with flows in one of the tributaries to the Virgin River spiking from 50 cubic feet per second to more than 2,500 feet per second in one 15-minute period.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office in California said late Wednesday that one of its sergeants, Steve Arthur, died in the flooding and was positively identified, reports CBS Salt Lake City affiliate KUTV.
“Ninety percent of Zion is wilderness”, Picard said. Twelve bodies were recovered miles across the state line in Arizona; the youngest of the victims was a 4-year-old boy. Park rangers located the victims’ unoccupied vehicles Monday evening and a search began this morning when park officials determined the hikers had not exited the canyon.
The Facebook page for Utah’s Washington County, which has been providing updates on the search mission, says Hildale Mayor Phillip Barlow gave the boy’s name as Tyson Lewis Black.
“Most of the people were thrown from the vehicles”, the fire official said. Josephine Jessop and Naomi Jessop also are sister wives, with both married to Joseph N. Jessop. Their community is known as the home base for a polygamous sect. Water surged through the canyons, making it impossible for rangers to reach hikers stranded in Keyhole Canyon.
Authorities say searchers have found the body of a fifth hiker killed in flash flooding that swept through a narrow canyon at Utah’s Zion National Park.
Michael Mann, a climate scientist and director of Penn State’s Earth System Science Center, echoed Trenberth’s view that climate change exacerbates these weather events when he spoke to HuffPost in May about the Texas floods.
North in Zion, the seven hikers were clambering through a popular canyon when a deluge seen only once a century unleashed a wall of churning water.
But when flash flooding starts, it’s a different story, with narrow crevices filling like a bathtub.
Experienced canyoneers constantly look for escape routes and opportunities to move to high ground if the need arises, Braun said.