Floodwaters Trap Hikers, Carry Away Cars in Utah, Killing 16

Virginia Black watched in horror from her house as she made a video of the once-in-a-century flash flood.
Floodwaters Trap Hikers, Carry Away Cars in Utah, Killing 16
A woman looks at a damaged vehicle swept away during a flash flood Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, in Hildale, Utah. The floodwaters swept away vehicles in the Utah-Arizona border town, killing several people. AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
The Associated Press
Updated:

HILDALE, Utah—A van and SUV carrying three women and 13 children sat near the widening stream, waiting for the water to recede so they could cross back to their homes in a small, polygamous town on the Utah-Arizona border.

But in an instant, floodwaters engulfed them, and the two vehicles were sucked downstream, bobbing in the turbulent water before they tumbled over an embankment. Only three children survived. Twelve are dead. One is missing.

Virginia Black watched in horror from her house as she made a video of the once-in-a-century flash flood. “There goes the van!” Black says in a high-pitched voice. “It went over the thing. Oh, dear.”

Downstream, people rushed to where the vehicles came to a stop. One witness described a gruesome scene of body parts, twisted metal and a young boy who somehow survived.

“The little boy was standing there,” Yvonne Holm recalled. “He said, ‘Are you guys going to help me?’”

A woman and child examine a vehicle swept away during a flash flood, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, in Hilldale, Utah. (Michael Chow/The Arizona Republic via AP)
A woman and child examine a vehicle swept away during a flash flood, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, in Hilldale, Utah. Michael Chow/The Arizona Republic via AP