Two hikers found dead after flash flood in Utah canyon

Sheriff’s office says ‘conditions were above and beyond what anybody expected’

Two hikers have been found dead and one rescued from a canyon in Utah after it was struck by flash floods.

The three men, in their fifties, started the hike on Friday. Authorities believe they were caught in rapidly-rising waters on Saturday morning, Lieutenant Alan Alldredge at Kane County Sheriff’s Office told CNN.

Robert Shackleford, a CNN meteorologist, said the flash flood could be linked to a recent atmospheric river deluging the US West this week. The heavy downpours have led to rising water levels in streams, rivers, and slot canyons like the Buckskin Gulch.

The search for the trio began on Monday after the wife of one man called police to say that she hadn’t heard from her husband beyond their hike’s scheduled finish time, Lt. Allredge said.

Teams searched along the Buckskin Gulch, which stretches for 16 miles in southern Utah. It’s thought to be one of the most dangerous slot canyons in the US because it has few access and exit points.

The bodies of two hikers were found on Monday and Tuesday. Debris spotted by an air rescue team led them to the third man, who was airlifted out of the canyon and taken to hospital. He remained in hospital with hypothermia and injuries to his body on Wednesday.

Water levels remain high days after a rainstorm in Buckskin Gulch in Kane County, Utah (Lennie Mahler 2016)

“They had the packs, they had the necessary gear, food and stuff they needed for this particular hike. It’s just the conditions were above and beyond what anybody expected,” Lt Allredge told KTSU.

The hikers had previous experience hiking in the canyon, according to Fox13. The sheriff’s office said they also had been sent out to search for ten other people in the area over the same period.

David Ranking grew up ten minutes away from the Buckskin Gulch. He’s studied flash floods for more than 20 years.

“It’s the last place you want to be when there’s a flash flood coming. One of the longest in the world,” he told Fox13.

Glen Merrill of the National Weather Service told the local TV station that hikers should anticipate more flash floods this spring.

“Recently we’ve been seeing enhanced runoff from snowmelt due to our essentially historical snowpack across the state that we have right now,” he told Fox13.