Search continues for man missing in Arizona flash flood

PAYSON, Ariz. — An expanded search team using divers, chain saws and a drone scouted a 2 1/2-mile area along Ellison Creek on Tuesday in hopes of finding a missing man whose extended family was trapped in a flash flood at a swimming hole.

The bodies of nine family members were recovered Saturday and Sunday, but Hector Miguel Garnica, 27, remained missing.

The search for Garnica was suspended about noon because of storms in the area. Teams were prepared to resume when the weather cleared, either Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning.

In an afternoon update, Tiffany Davila, spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, said the team now saw the effort as a body-retrieval search, not a rescue mission.

No new leads had emerged, Davila said.

A 16-person state Type 3 Incident Management Team with professionals from fire, medical and law enforcement was leading the search, under the direction of Pruett Small, hazard-response leader at the state Forestry Department.