Zion National Park floods trapped 7 people in narrow canyon

Authorities have confirmed a ninth person has died in flash flooding that swept away two vehicles in a town on the Utah-Arizona border.

The mayor of a small polygamous town on the Utah-Arizona border says searchers are hoping to find a 6-year-old boy after flash flooding killed 12 others, including the child’s mother, aunts, siblings and cousins. In Zion National Park, rangers are searching for the missing there in drainages downstream of Keyhole Canyon.

Members of the Utah National Guard are focusing their search on an area close to where two vehicles carrying 16 women and children were swept away Monday.

Resources assisting Zion National Park in the search and recovery efforts include Springdale/Rockville Fire, Washington County Sheriff’s Office and Search and Rescue, and Glen Canyon Recreation area staff. Over sixty responders are participating in the search and recovery effort.

They had obtained a permit to go through the canyon at about 7:40 a.m. on Monday, despite warnings from rangers that thunderstorms were expected and flash flooding was “probable”.

The names of individuals will not be released until the families have been notified.

Pulsipher said in the briefing that three of the confirmed dead are adults; the other nine were children. “If you’re going to go canyoneering it’s probably the best canyon to learn on”, he said.

The flash flooding early this week could be the worst weather-related disaster in Utah history. Continued high water has hindered the search.

His wife, Linda Arthur, was the last person missing, the sheriff’s department said. As for those actively searching, 60 people are out looking for those two missing individuals. They went canyoneering before park officials closed slot canyons that evening due to flood warnings.

In less than an hour on Monday, 0.62 inches of rain fell near the canyon, which flows in one of the tributaries to the Virgin River jumping from 50 cubic feet per second to more than 2,500 cubic feet per second in only about 15 minutes.

Their SUV and van were swept away when a waterway that is normally dry was overwhelmed by a wall of water from heavy storms.

“Ultimately it is the visitor’s decision as to whether or not they want to attempt that trip”, Park Ranger Therese Picard said.

The Keyhole Canyon at Zion in southern Utah where the hikers were killed is what canyoneers call a “rap and swim” canyon, full of a series of drops where hikers rappel down into pools of water, Allen said.

Park spokesman Dave Eaker says authorities are investigating and reviewing policies in the wake of the deaths, but the process to get permits to enter Keyhole Canyon is created at the national level.

Governor Herbert has ordered the flags to be lowered to honor the lives lost in the South Utah flash floods.

Some 20 miles to the north at Zion National Park, the same storm system sent flash floods coursing through a narrow slot canyon, killing four people and leaving three others missing.