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U.S. NEWSWednesday 16 September
Search teams hunt for victims of deadly floods
KIMBERLY PIERCEALL the secluded community mounds of dirt. As a heli-
BRADY McCOMBS that is the home base of copter buzzed overhead,
Associated Press Warren Jeffs’ polygamist crowds of boys in jeans and
HILDALE, Utah (AP) — sect. girls and women in deep-
Search-and-rescue teams Only one person was still colored prairie dresses
trudged through muddy missing Tuesday afternoon watched the rescue effort.
streambeds Tuesday in a out of 16 people — three Residents called it the worst
small polygamous town on women and 13 children — flood in memory for the sis-
the Utah-Arizona border, who were in two vehicles ter towns of Hildale, Utah,
looking for people who that got smashed Monday and Colorado City, Ari-
were missing after a devas- by a wall of water and zona, which are 315 miles
tating flash flood that killed carried several hundred (507 kilometers) south of
at least 12 people. yards downstream. Author- Salt Lake City at the foot of
With more rain in the fore- ities had not identified the picturesque red rock cliffs.
cast, men in helmets were dead. Three people sur- It was in this area at Max-
perched at high points vived, all of them children. well Canyon where heavy
along the route, watch- On Tuesday, the streets rains sent water down
ing carefully for any more were caked in red mud, Short Creek and barreling
floodwaters that could sus- and earth movers cleared through the towns.
pend the search in Hildale, the roads and piled up The torrent was so fast, “it
A dress is found tangled in the debris as residents work to clean
the area after a flash flood on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015 in Colo-
rado City, Ariz. A wall of water swept away vehicles in the Utah-
Arizona border town Monday, killing several people.
(S. Winterton/The Deseret News/AP)
was taking concrete pil- above, he said. It came
lars and just throwing them rushing down and engulfed
down, just moving them their vehicles.
like plastic,” said Lorin “We’re greatly humbled by
Holm, who called the storm this, but we realize that this
the heaviest in the 58 years is an act of God, and this
he’s lived in the commu- is something we can’t con-
nity. The women and chil- trol,” said Barlow, a Jeffs
dren were in an SUV and a follower. “We have to take
van on a gravel road north what we receive and do
of the towns. They were re- the best we can.”
turning from a park when About three hours earlier,
they stopped at a flooded the National Weather Ser-
crossing and got out to vice had issued a flood
watch the raging waters, warning for the area,
Hildale Mayor Philip Barlow saying: “Move to higher
said. ground now. Act quickly
What they did not know to protect your life.” It’s un-
was that a flash flood was known if the victims were
brewing in the canyon aware of the warning.q
