Officials in Utah said that eight people had died and five others were missing early Tuesday after floodwaters slammed into two vehicles carrying women and children in a small town near the Arizona border Monday afternoon.
The Utah Division of Emergency Management said in a Facebook post that heavy rains caused the flash flooding at about 5 p.m. local time Monday in Hildale, approximately 315 miles south of Salt Lake City. The statement said a "large wall of water and debris" smashed into the vehicles, washing them and their occupants downstream.
The women and children were in two different cars, a full size van and an SUV, on a gravel road north of the towns, Hildale assistant fire chief Kevin Barlow said. It appears they were coming back from a park in the area, backing their cars up when the flash flood hit, he said....