HILDALE, Utah, Sept. 15 (UPI) — At least a dozen people have been confirmed dead and one other is missing, due to flash flooding that washed away vehicles Monday in southern Utah.
The flash flood began Monday after heavy rains fell on canyons north of the town of Hildale and sent waves of water into the town and its sister city, Colorado City, Ariz. An official said the flooding looked like a “wall of water.”
The youngest victim was about 4 years old, authorities said.
“This hit with a vengeance we haven’t seen for some time,” Kevin Barlow, assistant fire chief in Hildale, said, NBC News reported.
Authorities said the death toll was at 8, earlier Tuesday, but later revealed that they had discovered the bodies of four of five people who were unaccounted for. One remains missing.
At least 16 people were inside of an SUV and a van that were “hit by a large wall of water and debris,” killing at least seven. The victims were believed to have been on their way home from visiting a park.
“Everyone is family here, and it’s a tragedy however you look at it,” Barlow said.
Most water receded by Monday night as the community continued efforts to clean up and search for those missing.
Many people who live in the community are members or former members of the polygamist sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, led by Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting underage girls.
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