15 people dead in flash flooding in Utah

Authorities have confirmed at least 15 people died in sudden, violent flooding that swept away two vehicles in a town on the Utah-Arizona border and surged through a nearby national park, the Guardian reports.

The death toll has increased with the discovery that three people had been killed in Utah’s Zion national park when they were caught up in floodwaters rushing through its canyons.

Another four are still reported missing, and their vehicle was found at a trailhead on Monday evening in the Keyhole Canyon area, leading to a search on Tuesday morning.

Zion national park is less than 32 km north of the small city of Hildale, on the Utah-Arizona border, where 12 people were killed by flash floods on Monday.

The water reportedly dragged the vehicles hundreds of yards downstream on Monday afternoon, with authorities saying the victims were as young as four, and adding that it was unclear if they were all from the same family.

The floods followed heavy rains in the canyons just north of the sister towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona , and with more rain in the forecast, men in helmets were perched at high points along the route, watching carefully for any more floodwaters that could suspend the search.

The Guardian adds that the dead, who were in the vehicles, were mostly women and children ranging in age from four years old to teenagers and that three people had survived.

The torrent was so fast, “it was taking concrete pillars and just throwing them down, just moving them like plastic”, said Lorin Holm, who called the storm the heaviest in the 58 years he’s lived in the community.