The local water department issued the advisory as a precaution Wednesday after floods tore through the sister cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, sweeping away two vehicles Monday and killing at least 12 people.
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“Searchers in Mohave County, Arizona, discovered the Geo Tracker belonging to Ryan Mertlich of Hurricane, Utah, in a dry wash that had carried a flash flood”.
In Hildale, hundreds of volunteers from more 30 agencies, supported by the Utah National Guard, worked through the day on Tuesday to search for the missing and clear thousands of tons of mud and debris.
At about the same time, a group of seven people set off to explore canyons in Zion National Park, about 20 miles (32 km) to the north, then the torrential downpour began. Floodwaters swept away multiple vehicles in the Utah-Arizona border town, killing several people and leaving others misisng. Residents watch search and rescue volunteers search for a missing person in Short Creek in Colorado City, Ariz., Wednesday, September 16, 2015.
Merlich was last seen late Monday, when flash flooding in southern Utah killed at least 19 people in a small polygamous community and Zion National Park.
Authorities say rescuers are dropping down a narrow canyon in Utah’s Zion National Park to search for the last person missing after raging floodwaters trapped a group of seven hikers. But there’s no sign of Mertlich, who typically travels the remote dirt roads of what is known as the Arizona Strip.
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Authorities say the body of a 33-year-old man missing since flash flooding hit the Utah-Arizona border earlier this week has been recovered miles from his heavily damaged vehicle. A spokeswoman for the Mohave County sheriff says it’s obvious that Mertlich’s auto was carried by a flash flood. One boy is still missing, and three other children survived. The sheriff’s office said he was known to drive back roads.
