ZION NATIONAL PARK, Utah — Zion National Park rangers regularly warn hikers that flash flooding during monsoon season can turn southern Utah’s beautiful canyons into deadly channels of fast-moving water and debris. But dozens of adventure-seekers go anyway, eager to rappel down the colorful, undulating sandstone walls.
That decision proved deadly for one group of hikers who got trapped by floodwaters in a popular “slot” canyon as narrow as a window in some spots and several hundred feet deep.
Six have turned up dead. One is still missing.
A sudden deluge of rain fueled the flood Monday evening, which “went from a trickle to a wall” of water, park ranger Therese Picard said.
Six of the hikers were from California and one from Nevada. All were in their 40s and 50s.
Another hiker who had seen the group reported them overdue about 5:30 p.m. Monday, right after a fierce storm that dumped more than a half-inch of rain in less than an hour.
The first body was found near the mouth of the canyon Tuesday afternoon, and a private canyoneering group came across the second an hour later.
The deadly events at Zion happened at the same time flash floods tore through a small community on the Utah-Arizona border just south of the park, leaving at least 12 people dead who were in two cars who were swept up Monday by swift water, mud and debris in a canyon.
Crews are searching a 7-mile length of Short Creek to try and find a boy who turned 6 last month. The last body recovered was found 6 1/2 miles from where the two cars, a van and an SUV carrying 16 people, were swept away.
