Flood and Flash Flood Deaths in Utah prior to 1950
Utah
Flood and Flash Flood Deaths as reported by the NWS
| DATE | DEATHS | COUNTY | EVENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 17, 1863 | 4 | Iron | A flood generated by a series of cloudbursts raised Pine Creek to a level of 20 feet. A house was swept away and four children drowned. |
| July 23, 1878 | 2 | Tooele | A cloudburst at Johnson's settlement in Skull Valley resulted in a flood which killed two Indians and 20 head of cattle. |
| August 16, 1889 | 1 | Sanpete | A flash flood drowned a boy, some cattle, and some horses in Wood Canyon near Mayfield. |
| July 14, 1896 | 2 | Juab | Torrential rain flooded the town of Eureka. Two people were drowned and one died of heart failure. |
| July 28, 1896 | 4 | Juab | Four people lost their lives in Eureka. Main Street was turned into a raging torrent. |
| August 22, 1896 | 1 | Sevier | A wagonload of laborers was caught in a flooded stream in Clear Creek Canyon, south of Joseph. One man was killed. |
| October 7, 1896 | 1 | Grand | A man drowned while attempting to cross Mill Creek near Moab while it was swollen by heavy rain. |
| August 4, 1900 | 1 | Emery | In Orangeville, a boy drowned in a creek flooded by heavy rain. |
| August 5, 1901 | 1 | Garfield | A boy drowned while swimming in the gorge 15 miles below Escalante when a freshet came down the gully. |
| August 6, 1901 | 2 | Carbon | Two lives were lost and a great deal of damage was done to property at Winter Quarters, which is west of Scofield. |
| August 10, 1903 | 1 | Washington | A man was trapped in a flash flood in Dry Creek near Toquerville. He subsequently drowned. |
| September 1, 1909 | 1 | Uintah | A man drowned in a flash flood while driving a wagon across a stream. Occurred at the Ashley River near Vernal. |
| June 19, 1918 | 1 | Sanpete | An intense cloudburst caused extensive flooding along Pleasant Creek in Mount Pleasant. One farmer drowned, and property damage amounted to $100,000. Streets were covered with mud, boulders, and debris. |
| August 2, 1922 | 1 | Salt Lake | Ellis Yates, a 6 year old boy, was drowned by a flood in Magna. The flood demolished his family's residence. |
| August 13, 1923 | 7 | Davis | Seven people drowned as a result of a tremendous flood in Farmington Canyon near Farmington. Farming sections were largely destroyed, with houses, barns, orchards, and highways covered with several feet of mud. Lagoon resort was flooded and patrons were rescued from trees. Farmington Canyon Road was completely destroyed. |
| August 13, 1923 | 2 | Box Elder | Two women drowned when their house was demolished by a flash flood in Willard Canyon near Willard. |
| July 4, 1925 | 1 | Uintah | An eight-year-old child drowned as he was swept from an automobile by a flood in Five Mile Creek near Vernal. |
| August 16, 1928 | 1 | Carbon | A sheep rancher drowned when torrential rains at Nine Mile Canyon near Price caused heavy flooding that covered his automobile. His daughter, who was riding with him, escaped by clinging to brush and crawling to safety. |
| July 21, 1934 | 1 | Sevier | A boy drowned in a sudden flood in Lost Creek near Salina. |
| July 29, 1936 | 1 | Emery | A woman drowned in a flood in Ferron which swept down a dry wash following a cloudburst. |
| July 30, 1936 | 1 | Beaver | Cloudburst rains caused heavy damage to property in Minersville. One woman drowned. |
| July 29, 1937 | 1 | Carbon | Huge boulders were loosened by a flood in Price, rolling through a house and killing a 6-year-old girl. Three other people were injured. |
| August 31, 1939 | 1 | Grand | Mrs. Albert Turner was swept to her death at the head of Diamond Creek in the Book Cliffs near Cisco by flood waters. |
| August 5, 1948 | 1 | Carbon | The body of a man was found in a pile of debris after a flash flood near Sunnyside. |
| TOTAL DEATHS BEFORE 1950 | 40 | ||
Flood and Flash Flood Deaths in
Utah since 1950
Updated: 4 June 2005
| DATE | DEATHS | COUNTY | EVENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 26, 1952 | 1 | Emery | One man drowned when a cloudburst flooded the tunnel in which he was working at Buckhorn Wash Proving Ground about 15 miles south of Castle Dale. |
| September 17, 1961 | 5 | Washington | A hiking party of 26 persons was caught in a flash flood in a narrow canyon (termed the Narrows) of the Virgin River in Zion National Park. Five members of that party drowned (scouts). The flood resulted from heavy rainfall and was said by old-timers to be the largest they had ever seen coming through the Narrows. The crest of the flood reached 14 feet in some of the narrow gorges. |
| September 17, 1961 | 1 | Kane | At Wahweap Creek near Glen Canyon City a 9-year-old girl drowned in a flash flood. |
| June 10, 1965 | 7 | Daggett | A husband...wife...their three children...and two nephews drowned in a flash flood in Sheep Creek Canyon in the Uinta Mountains. They were camped in Palisades Campground along the snowmelt-swollen waters of Sheep Creek. Heavy rains in the area turned the creek into a raging torrent. |
| September 5, 1970 | 2 | San Juan | A major Labor Day storm in the Four Corners area of Utah (also Arizona) produced tremendous amounts of rain. A couple drove their car off a washed-out bridge and drowned but their son...who was washed into shallow water...survived. A great deal of damage was done to property in the area such as roads and ranches. |
| February 18, 1980 | 1 | Washington | Flooding was extensive due to heavy rains along the Virgin and Santa Clara Rivers in southwest Utah. A woman and her companion attempted to cross swollen Kolob Creek near Virgin. The vehicle they were riding in was carried several hundred yards downstream with the woman drowning and her companion swimming to safety. |
| June 24, 1983 | 1 | Millard | The DMAD dam near Delta failed on June 23rd, creating a flash flood. A man tried to traverse the raging waters from the demise of the dam...fell in...and drowned. |
| May 13, 1984 | 1 | Carbon | A man was killed by a debris/mud flow in the tiny town of Clear Creek. Also...three homes and four garages were demolished. |
| May 14, 1984 | 1 | Tooele | A man was killed in Middle Fork Canyon at the Carr Fork Mine when a mudslide released tons of debris/mud that covered his bulldozer. |
| February 18, 1986 | 1 | Box Elder | Heavy rains in Box Elder County caused flooding in several areas. A 2-year-old boy drowned in a rain-swollen canal/irrigation ditch. |
| September 14, 1996 | 1 | San Juan | A flash flood in the afternoon claimed the life of a 16-year-old girl. She and 12 others (adults/teens) were hiking in the "Black Hole" area of White Canyon (38 miles west of Blanding) when the flash flood roared through the narrow canyon. She was swept away with her body being found about 100 yards downstream the next day. |
| July 27, 1998 | 2 | Washington | Two male hikers drowned in the Zion "Narrows" during a flash flood. One was 27 years old and the other 31 years old. |
| September 5, 1998 | 1 | Kane | A flash flood in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area's Ice Cream Canyon swept away and drowned a 10-year-old girl. She was standing on the side of the canyon observing the flash flood in the canyon below when the side gave way and she fell in. |
| May 13, 2001 | 1 | Washington | A 10-year-old boy was killed after being swept off a cliff by a "curtain" of water during a flash flood that was falling across a steep cliff-side trail. A second boy was rescued. |
| January 10, 2005 | 1 | Washington | A man and his wife in their vehicle got caught in flood waters in a normally dry wash in the Red Cliff Recreation area near Quail Creek Reservoir during a major flood event. The man was swept downstream and was killed, while the woman was rescued. |
| TOTAL DEATHS SINCE 1950 | 27 | ||
| TOTAL DEATHS | 67 | ||
Recent River and Water-Related Deaths - 2005
(*Being considered for possible inclusion in the above list)
April 13-16, 2005: Two BYU students (both males, age 24 and 25, from Arizona) drowned in high waters in Choprock Canyon in Garfield County. Searchers believe that the two men tried to cross very high, cold water in a narrow canyon when they drowned from possible hypothermia.
May 24, 2005: A 76-year-old woman, suffering from dementia, wondered from her home and apparently fell into Millcreek in Salt Lake County and drowned. The cold, fast-moving waters of the creek was located a short distance from her back yard.
May 27, 2005: A 12-year-old boy died when he lost his grip on a rope swing and fell into normally dry Leeds Creek (which is located about 18 miles north of St. George).
May 28, 2005: A 27-year-old man from Price fell from a boat into rising Lake Powell near Bullfrog and drowned. According to friends the man "stood up and fell into the lake" and never resurfaced. Light and sonar devices helped searches locate the man's body at a depth of 196 feet.
May 30, 2005: A 24-year-old man from St. George was swept over a 30-foot waterfall spilling out of Gunlock Reservoir while on a family outing. The man had been sliding down a moss-covered pour-over that flowed into a smaller pool out of the main channel. The pool spilled over a 25-to-30-foot drop into a larger pool. The man apparently got too near the edge of the pool and was swept over. A relative said he saw the man clinging to a rock just before he went over the edge of the pool. The man's body was recovered on June 1st.
*June 2, 2005: A 30-year-old man drowned in Big Cottonwood Creek after he fell in and was washed downstream. The man and a companion had been trying to cross the raging creek near Moss Ledge at the Mill B South trail head, when he lost his footing and was swept away just before 5:00 PM. His body was recovered on June 2nd.
June 5, 2005: A 3-year-old boy fell into the Provo River while playing near the riverbank of a Provo city park. The boy spent more than six minutes in the swollen river before being rescued by two police officers and rushed to a hospital. Unfortunately, the boy died two days later, on June 7, 2005.