Environment
What Utah's Flash Floods Say About the Dry Future of the West
Tuesday’s deadly torrents are reminders that western states need new models for water storage.
Two flash floods that struck southern Utah Tuesday brought a greater loss of life than any weather event in the state’s history.
12 members of two related families were killed in Hildale, a small town near the Arizona border. They’d gone out in their van to watch creek water rise and got caught in what others described as a “wall of water.” At least six hikers trekking the narrow slot canyons of Zion National Park, about 20 miles north of Hildale, were also swept up in a separate torrent and died.