WASHINGTON COUNTY – Twelve people were confirmed dead Tuesday while one person was still missing in Hildale after a wall of water and debris barreled through the streets during a flash flood Monday sweeping away a full-size van and an SUV containing members of two Utah families.
About the same time, another flash flood coursed through a small slot canyon in Zion National Park catching a party of seven adults who were canyoneering; four of their bodies were recovered Tuesday, another two bodies were recovered Wednesday and one remains missing.
Hildale
Flash flooding is a “way of life” for the city’s residents who typically like to go out and see it, Hildale City Mayor Philip Barlow said Tuesday, but Monday’s flooding was a reality check.
“I’ve lived here all my life,” Philip Barlow said, “and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
A total of 16 people — three women and 13 children ranging from 4 years old to teenage — were returning from Maxwell Park around 5 p.m. Monday when they found the road blocked by floods.
“Unbeknownst to them,” Mayor Barlow said, “a flash flood had developed up in the canyon and it came rushing down, and it actually came around behind the vehicles and engulfed the vehicles.”
Three children were found alive and authorities continue to search areas along the Utah-Arizona border for missing 6-year-old Tyson Lucas Black.
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The flooding impacted several areas in the communities by flooding homes, requiring street closures, causing power outages among other impacts besides the devastating loss of life.
As a result of the flooding, a boil water advisory was issued Tuesday evening as a preventative measure for the cities of Hildale and Colorado City, Arizona, due to damage to the water system.
A large contingent of contractors using heavy equipment worked through the night Monday and all day Tuesday to clear thousands of tons of mud and debris from the Central Street creek crossing and aid in the search for the flood victims.
Hildale resident Dowayne Barlow described the ordeal as “a tragic event beyond epic proportions.”
“I think in talking relation to the mothers,” Dowayne Barlow said Tuesday, “these mothers are very intelligent. They’re very bright, very dynamic girls and it is reflected into their children. They come from Mormon fundamentalist heritage and so family is everything to them and I don’t think that the mothers, if they’d had their choice today, I don’t think that you could have separated them. They’re happy to go with their children today.”
Former Hildale resident Lacy Holm said she came up to the area from Las Vegas to assist loved ones in the search.
“I think the impact is obviously bittersweet, you know? Something tragic like this should never have to bring people together,” she said, “but this community has been so torn apart that it’s actually brought people from the community together.”
Hildale officials issued a disaster declaration Tuesday morning, Washington County Sheriff Cory Pulsipher said, and by Tuesday evening, state resources began arriving and assisting with planning for continued search activities.
Tuesday’s effort was supported by over 30 volunteer and professional agencies, Pulsipher said, including assistance from members of the Salt Lake All Hazards Incident Management Team, Utah National Guard units from the 222 FA and the 213 FSC, and Urban Search and Rescue Task Force I.
“Obviously,” Utah Lt. Governor Spencer Cox said, “this is one of the worst weather-related disasters in the history of the state of Utah and, because of that, we’re bringing the full resources of the state to bear.”
Cox said the state is doing all it can to help.
“In a lot of ways it’s symbolic,” Dowayne Barlow said. “This whole event is symbolic to the tragedy that’s already in this community in relation to families being swept away and down the river but we hope that we will be able to have the resurgence – the resilience – to come back and I think that’s the kind of people you have with these families. They’re resilient people and they’ll make their way.”
Bodies of six hikers have been recovered and 1 hiker remains missing in nearby Zion National Park after having been caught in flash flooding through a small slot canyon Monday afternoon.
Keyhole Canyon canyoneering requires a permit from the park and typically involves 30-foot rappels and swimming through pools of water.
Park rangers were told of the group in Keyhole Canyon shortly before the flooding that resulted from .63 inches of rain in one hour around 4:30-5:30 p.m. began, the park’s release said. Their unoccupied vehicles were located Monday evening and a search began Tuesday morning when it was determined they had not exited the canyon.
The first body was recovered at 1:30 p.m. with three more found in the hours that followed. The bodies of two additional hikers were discovered Wednesday morning.
Teams from the park and from Rockville Fire Department performed the search and recovery operations Tuesday. Teams from Kane and Washington counties and Grand Canyon National park are expected to assist in the ongoing search operations Wednesday.
St. George News Editor-in-Chief Joyce Kuzmanic contributed to this report.
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Residents of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, watch as search crews continued Tuesday to go through the area in search of bodies and survivors in the wake of Monday's fatal flash flooding in Hildale. As of Tuesday night, 12 bodies were recovered, 3 children survived, and 1 boy remained missing. Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by MIchael Durrant, St. George News
Search and recovery operations continued through Monday night into the next day in the wake of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 12 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Friends and loved ones lined the street as search and recovery operations continued through Monday night into the next day in the wake of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Friends and loved ones lined the street as search and recovery operations continued through Monday night into the next day in the wake of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Search and recovery operations continued through Monday night into the next day in the wake of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Search and recovery operations continued through Monday night into the next day in the wake of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Searchers uncovered a vehicle that was swept away by heavy flood waters in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Searchers uncovered a vehicle that was swept away by heavy flood waters in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Searchers uncovered a vehicle that was swept away by heavy flood waters in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Search and recovery operations continued through Monday night into the next day in the wake of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Search and recovery operations continued through Monday night into the next day in the wake of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Search and recovery operations continued through Monday night into the next day in the wake of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Aftermath of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Aftermath of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Aftermath of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Aftermath of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Aftermath of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Aftermath of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Aftermath of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Residents of Hildale, Utah, watch as search crews continued Tuesday to go through the area in search of bodies and survivors in the wake of Monday’s fatal flash flooding in Hildale. As of Tuesday night, 12 bodies were recovered, 3 children survived, and 1 boy remained missing. Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Aftermath of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Aftermath of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Aftermath of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Aftermath of flash flooding that claimed the life of at least 13 women and children in Hildale, Utah, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo by Kimberly Scott, St. George News
Fatal flooding swept away a large van and SUV, leaving a number of people dead and others missing, Short Creek, Hildale, Arizona, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Guy Timpson, St. George News
Fatal flooding swept away a large van and SUV, leaving a number of people dead and others missing, Short Creek, Hildale, Arizona, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Guy Timpson, St. George News
Fatal flooding swept away a large van and SUV, leaving a number of people dead and others missing, Short Creek, Hildale, Arizona, Sept. 15, 2015 | Photo courtesy of Guy Timpson, St. George News
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kimberly Scott is a lifetime resident of Southern Utah. In 2013, Kimberly joined St. George News as a vital member of its editing, reporting and administrative team. She is passionate about engaging communities through writing and is dedicated to providing complete and accurate coverage of both anticipated and breaking news.
Three kids lived…that’s amazing! With luck, other missing persons will be found alive.
This story is sad in so many ways and for so many reasons and I don’t mean just the loss of lives.
Those poor children don’t have a chance.
Hope is a beautiful thing, Real Life.
Yeah what SAGE said..!