Search for bodies after Utah floods kill at least 17

A woman looks at a damaged vehicle swept away during a flash flood Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, in Hildale, Utah.

The floods hit two vehicles packed with 16 people on Monday.

The three women are sisters.

Joseph Jessop said he and his family will rely on help and faith to guide them through this tragedy. The children in the vehicles ranged from 4 years old to teenagers. Three people survived the incident and one remained missing, bringing the death toll in Hildale town to 12 Tuesday.

Bodies recovered Tuesday were found as far as five miles away.

The group of seven people in their 40s and 50s from California and Nevada set out Monday, before park officials closed canyons due to flooding.

“We are in shock, really”, Johnson said.

This report contains material from Reuters and the Associated Press.

Crews searched for missing people in the flood waters but scaled back the operation at nightfall as conditions were still dangerous.

“I grateful that this house is still standing”, she said.

Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of several children who died when two vehicles were swept away by floodwaters that killed at least 18 people near Utah’s border with Arizona.

The women and children were in two different cars, a full size van and an SUV, on a gravel road north of the towns, Hildale assistant fire chief Kevin Barlow said. They noticed a nightgown and what seemed to be the material lining from the roofs of one of many vans, however no stays.

The federal team has previously combed through the rubble of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the devastation that followed Hurricane Katrina. The bodies of six others were found in Utah.

Fox 13 Now reported that three of the victims were mothers and one of the other victims was a 4-year-old.

The self-described flood chaser positioned himself about 40 miles downstream from a creek basin in southern Utah.

Park officials said Keyhole Canyon is a narrow canyon that requires a permit for access.

While the search will continue for the boy, the focus now is on community recovery. It came rushing down and engulfed their vehicles.

Workers from agencies in four counties in Arizona and Utah – Washington, Mojave, Kane and Coconino – joined the search Tuesday and National Guard troops were expected to arrive Tuesday night.

Zion spokeswoman Aly Baltrus said that some members of the group were new to canyoneering, but they took a class before they entered the canyon.

“It’s something you don’t see very often”, Wyler said of the cooperation. Three children were rescued, officials said.

The raging torrents of water are not uncommon in an area prone to flash floods, but the volume and pace of Monday’s rain was a “100-year event”, said Brian McInerney, hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City. About 600 people from law enforcement and volunteers have been out since Monday looking for the missing.