Last Zion climber found; 7 flood victims ID'd
ST. GEORGE, Utah — Searchers found Tuesday the seventh and final victim of a flash flood that tore through a slot canyon in Zion National Park and wiped out an entire party of climbers. For two days, search crews combed through the flood-ravaged waterways downstream of Keyhole Canyon, the popular slot canyon on the east side of the park that was hit late Monday by a violent thunderstorm.
According to a park service news release late Thursday, the climbers were Mark MacKenzie, 56, of Valencia, Calif.; Linda Arthur, 57, and Steve Arthur, 58, of Camarillo, Calif.; Gary Favela, 51, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; Don Teichner, 55, of Mesquite, Nev.; Muku Reynolds, 59, of Chino, Calif.; and Robin Brum, 53, of Camarillo, Calif.
More than six-tenths of an inch fell over the park in less than an hour Monday afternoon, with flows in one of the tributaries to the Virgin River spiking from 50 cubic feet per second to more than 2,500 feet per second in one 15-minute period. It qualified as a 100-year flood event — strong enough that such a powerful storm would only be expected to happen once every century.
At the time, the group was still inside Keyhole Canyon, a deep, narrow slot canyon popular for canyoneering, requiring rope rappels and swims through deep water.
At some points inside the canyon, the slick-rock walls are less than 3 feet apart, rising high above the visitors inside, Park Ranger Therese Picard said, explaining that a flash flood would look like a “wall of water” to anyone trapped inside.
Search crews found four of the bodies Tuesday and another two Wednesday. The last one, discovered Thursday morning, was found a few miles downstream, where rescuers negotiated a 100-foot drop into an area that had been unreachable previously because of the weather and fears of more flooding.
"We'll be having some meetings, some after-action reviews to make sure everything was done right and see if there is anything we can do better next time, but things are pretty much wrapping up now," David Eaker, a spokesman for the park, said afterward.
Rangers closed the park’s canyons after the National Weather Service issued warnings at about 2:22 p.m. MT Monday, but by then the group was already inside the canyon. One storm cell hit the area shortly after 3 p.m., then a larger one moved through after 5 p.m.
They had been warned of the danger of flash flooding when they received an entry permit at 7:40 a.m., and would have been given details on what equipment was necessary to traverse the canyon, park spokeswoman Aly Baltrus said.
However, rangers don’t actually close canyons until the NWS indicates flooding is imminent, Picard said, noting that during the late summer monsoons flood warnings are frequent but it is impossible to predict early where storms will hit or how hard.
“During monsoon season we get that warning every day,” she said.
Once the danger of flooding starts, there is no way logistically to check every canyon and get people out, she said.
In nearby Colorado City, Ariz., three boys who survived a flash flood that killed their siblings and mothers Monday appeared at a news briefing Thursday with their fathers, shyly listening as the men expressed thanks for searchers' efforts to recover the bodies of their loved ones and complained about efforts to wage "religious genocide" against the stateline polygamous community.
"Our gratitude (is) beyond words for the kindness and support that we've received. … We know our loved ones are safe in (their) heavenly home," Sheldon Black Jr. said, reading from a prepared statement as he clutched his two sons at his sides.
"Our hearts are swollen with grief. We know that God sees and knows all things. We trust in him," Black said.
Black didn't provide the names of his sons, and Hildale, Utah, Mayor Philip Barlow said the men would not answer questions from the media after reading their statements. Black's wife Della has been identified as one of the dead.
Joseph Newell Jessop, the other affected husband and father, stood to the side with his son as Black spoke then added his own words of appreciation.
Jessop's two wives, Naomi and Josephine, and their children were among the victims
"This is my son, the only survivor of my family," he said, indicating the boy he identified earlier in the week as Joseph also. "I want to express to the sheriff and law enforcement, so very much from the bottom of my heart, thank you for helping rescue our children and family members."
Twelve people have been confirmed dead following the flash flood that swept out of a canyon below Hildale's Maxwell Park at 5 p.m. Monday and carried off a Suburban and 15-passenger van with the two men's families in them. Neighbors have said the victims were members of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The Hildale vehicles had stopped on Canyon Street after noticing that water was running high across their path from a small stream that feeds Short Creek, the waterway that gives Hildale and Colorado City their common regional name.
Debris carried by the flash flood apparently helped push the water dozens of feet outside the streambed, sending the water behind the vehicles and sweeping them downstream as the flood carved a 35-foot chasm in the ground.
Washington County Sheriff Cory Pulsipher said he met with two of the surviving children after the incident and the third one Thursday morning. Two of the boys were able to climb out of the vehicle they were riding in as they came to a rest about a quarter mile below the point where they were swept away, he said.
The third child was thrown out of the vehicle he was in.
"The one little boy that was there … landed on top of a debris pile as it was floating down and was able to scramble across that debris pile as he was being swept down river and climb up the bank," Pulsipher said.
Pulsipher said the boys are still traumatized by the event and aren't speaking much about it.
"The two, you could see, were beat up pretty badly. The oldest one is the one who ended up a mile and a half downstream," he said.
Emergency personnel continued searching Thursday with the assistance of National Guard personnel and an elite state search and rescue team for one child who remains missing, identified as 6-year-old Tyson Lucas Black.
On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox called the tragedy "one of the worst weather-related disasters in the history of the state of Utah." County officials said they hadn't seen such a high body count before in the history of local flooding — especially when taking into consideration the additional seven bodies recovered from Zion National Park.