Raging floodwaters trap parents and three children in Utah state park, rescuers say

A family of five from Florida was rescued after getting stranded by floodwaters while hiking in Utah, media outlets reported.

The parents and their 2-year-old, 4-year-old and 6-year-old were hiking on March 15 in Snow Canyon State Park when they were bombarded by floodwaters, according to ABC 4.

A bystander saw the family “head out on their hike before the floodwaters started to flow,” according to KSL. Once he saw the river starting to rise around 4:30 p.m., he called officials.

Cody Ballantyne with Washington County Search and Rescue told KSL that the rescue mission was “complicated and also a race against the rain, cold temperatures and rising waters.”

The family was stranded on the “opposite side of the wash” and rescue teams didn’t want the kids to “get into the freezing and dangerous water,” according to FOX 13.

Rescue personnel made a makeshift zipline across the water to safely get the family across the raging river, according to FOX 13.

“I’m happy for that family because the way it’s raining right now, the way the waters coming down, they would have been there all night and into tomorrow and that would have posed hypothermia issues, especially for the little ones,” Sgt Darrell Cashin with Washington County Sheriff’s Office told KUTV.

Cashin told FOX 13 that normally the area is very dry “but flash floods turned it into a raging river.”

Search and rescue teams urge folks to “always be aware of the potential of flash floods” as the spring season tends to bring them, according to KSL.

Snow Canyon State Park is about 310 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

This story was originally published March 17, 2023 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Raging floodwaters trap parents and three children in Utah state park, rescuers say."