The southern Utah community of Hildale is beginning the rebuilding process with the help of incoming federal, state and county funding as a result of the devastating flash flood that occurred on the afternoon of Sept. 14. Hildale officials issued a ‘disaster declaration’ for the area soon after the flood, and construction crews have been using heavy equipment to shore up water-torn river banks and flood channels left by the flood and repair the local infrastructure that was devastated by the raging waters.
Washington County Administrator Dean Cox said that Washington County approved a local match to the federal funding allocated out of the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
“For every 75 cents from the federal government, Washington County will give 25 cents,” Cox said. “The total will bring help to the community in the amount of some $1.6 million dollars.”
Raymond Barlow, the Hildale city recorder, said that the Natural Resources Conservation Service funds went to armoring creek banks and clearing the flood channel from debris.
“The Community Impact Board approved a $1,490,500 grant to put in a bridge structure at Canyon Street and the Maxwell Wash,” Barlow said. “A box and open culvert will also be built to divert water from the Willow Street Alley at Utah Avenue, to Uzona Ave, a distance of about two blocks.”
Washington County Emergency Services Coordinator Pete Kuhlmann said that officials in Hildale are currently working with Ron Whitehead, the Washington County Public Works director, on the management of some of the rebuilding projects.
Even though the communities are moving forward with the rebuilding process, they continue to mourn the loss of the 10 children and 3 women who lost their lives when a Chevrolet Suburban and large passenger van were suddenly surrounded by water and swept into a flood channel. The storm dropped an estimated 1 1/2 inches of rain in the area over a short 30-minute period in an event that meteorologists described as a storm that only occurs every 100 years.
Three boys were rescued after jumping out of the vehicles to attempt to go and get help for the others still in the vehicles. The others perished in the flood. The bodies of all who were killed in the flood waters were found and recovered, with the exception of six-year-old Tyson Black.
According to Pete Kuhlmann, Washington County Emergency Services coordinator, there will be limited ongoing searches for Tyson Black.
“It will mainly consist of a local search,” Kuhlmann said. “Several dog teams will periodically do sweeps or searches up and down the flood plain as ongoing work in the washes and surrounding areas continue and other rain storms in the area possibly move and shift some of the debris. I don’t believe the search will ever stop for the missing boy.”
