9 dead, boy missing in flash flood at Arizona swimming hole
TONTO NATIONAL FOREST, Ariz. — Nine people died and a 13-year-old boy was still missing Sunday after a furious flash flood tore through a group of family and friends cooling off in a creek in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona.
Gila County Sheriff’s Detective David Hornung told The Associated Press that the group from the Phoenix and Flagstaff areas had met up for a daytrip along the popular Cold Springs swimming hole near Payson in central Arizona and were playing in the water Saturday afternoon when muddy flood waters came roaring down the canyon.
The group had set out chairs to lounge on a warm summer day when miles upstream an intense thunderstorm dumped heavy rainfall on the mountain.
Search and rescue crews, including 40 people on foot and others in a helicopter, recovered the bodies of five children and four adults, some as far as two miles down the river. The victims ranged in age from a 60-year-old woman to a 2-year-old girl. Authorities did not identify them. Four others were rescued Saturday and taken to Banner hospital in nearby Payson for treatment for hypothermia.
Rescuers got to the four victims quickly after the crew heard their cries while they were nearby helping an injured hiker.
Crews were walking Sunday along the banks poking through debris, including tree trunks. They’ve scoured a fivemile stretch down the East Verde River and will continue south.
The flash-flooding hit Saturday afternoon at Cold Springs canyon, about 100 miles northeast of Phoenix, a popular recreation area easily reached by relatively easy hiking paths. Some know it was as Ellison Creek or Water Wheel swimming holes.
Hornung said the treacherously swift waters gushed for about 10 minutes before receding in the narrow canyon. He estimated flood waters reached 6 feet high and 40 feet wide.
This photo provided by Bruce Campbell, a unit manager in the Marco Polo building in Honolulu, shows the charred interior of the building after a fire on the 26th floor.
HONOLULU — As flames raged through a Honolulu high-rise building, killing three people and injuring a dozen others, some residents didn’t even realize a blaze had broken out until they opened their doors or saw firefighters racing to battle the inferno.
Several Marco Polo high-rise residents told The Associated Press the sirens are located in the hallways and they had trouble hearing them when the blaze started. There were also no flashing alarm lights or public announcements about the deadly fire, they said.
Britt Reller was in the shower when the fire started and didn’t realize the building was ablaze until smoke began billowing through his apartment, his brother said. He rushed out to try to save his 85-year-old mother, but he couldn’t reach her and sought refuge from the smoke and flames under a bed.
His brother, a local pastor, Bruce Campbell via AP was on the phone with Reller at the time. He never heard from him again, and police later told him that both Reller and his mother, Melba Jeannine Dilley, were among those killed.
“He said the smoke was very, very thick, and I heard him calling for my mother and then the phone went dead,” Reller said. “I drove about 12 miles from my office to his apartment and then I just had to watch from outside. I’m still in shock. It is just surreal.”
Joanna Kuwata, 71, who was single and lived alone on the 26th floor of the building, was also killed in the fire, her sister told The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Jayne Matsuyama said her sister’s apartment was not damaged by fire, and she suspects she died of smoke inhalation.
Fire officials have not released any information about a possible cause for the blaze. A fire department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for additional information on Sunday.