Park ranger Therese Picard says the deluge of rain fueled the flood Monday evening, which “went from a trickle to a wall” of water.
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But Dowayne Barlow and other former members hope more is done to honor the victims.
Debris carried by the flash flood apparently helped push the water dozens of feet outside the streambed, sending the water behind the vehicles and sweeping them downstream as the flood carved a 35-foot chasm in the ground.
Authorities confirm twelve people are dead, and one is still missing after a massive flash flood ravaged the Southern Utah border. Officials have not released the identities of the dead. He was a 21-year veteran of the department and was selected in 2005 as public servant of the year by the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce. Linda Arthur is still missing and a recovery effort is on-going. Arthur was identified as one of the victims Wednesday, and his wife is still missing, sheriff’s officials said.
Mohave County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Trish Carter said search and rescue personnel are looking for Ryan Mertlich, 33.
The hikers entered the canyon – at some places only three feet wide – even though a flash flood warning had been posted for that area in Utah about an hour earlier on Monday, reported KTVN-TV.
PARK, Utah-Zion National Park rangers regularly warn hikers that flash flooding during monsoon season can turn southern Utah’s lovely canyons into… Pine Creek Canyon is about 3 miles from Keyhole Canyon. Others were beginners but had taken a basic skills course. “We trust in him”, Black said.
About an hour later, a private canyoneering group went into Keyhole, where they found the body of Gary Favelu. Two of the bodies were found in Arizona.
Volunteers arrived in Colorado City after the flash flood.
At the time, the group was still inside Keyhole Canyon, a deep, narrow slot canyon popular for canyoneering, requiring rope rappels and swims through deep water. Others were wading through waist-high water in the nearby Virgin River.
Walker said he would not want to see Zion change its permitting system, saying it “is already pretty restrictive”.
The search resumed the next morning.
Twenty-six members of the Utah National Guard spent Wednesday combing seven miles along the bank of the creek where floodwaters swept away two vehicles with women and children. The 12th body was recovered almost six miles downstream from where the vehicles were found, according to reports.
“Keyhole Canyon is a short, narrow slot canyon located on the east side of Zion National Park”, the park service said. “They were getting washed away, and there was nothing I could do about it”. Barlow said he doesn’t know if residents were aware of the warning.
The deaths briefly united followers and defectors of jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs as they scrambled to find survivors from the Monday flood.
“They were people that had an uncanny ability to be very happy” despite trying circumstances, he said.
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Cox says the boy’s mother and several siblings died in the flooding.
