HILDALE, UTAH – September 29, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) – Search efforts for a six-year-old boy still missing after the flash flooding in Hildale are being re-evaluated.
A statement from Washington County Sheriff’s Office said that volunteers and employees are “saddened by the lack of success in locating six-year-old Tyson Black.”
The statement released Tuesday reads in full: “Search and rescue volunteers from Washington County and several other jurisdictions spent the weekend of September 26 and 27 sifting through debris piles and re-searching areas without success. Outside resources have left the search and have returned to their respective jurisdictions.
“The Washington County Sheriff’s Office has turned over the search to the local agencies, who will evaluate what steps to take in the future. We will continue to support their efforts when needed. So many of our volunteers and employees who assisted are saddened by the lack of success in locating six year old Tyson Black. We had hoped that, with the extensive effort expended by the search teams and volunteers, he would have been found by now.”
The flash flooding that hit along the Utah-Arizona border on September 14 is now blamed for a total of 20 deaths.
Twelve of those were in the small Utah border community of Hildale after a wall of water swept through the town. A vehicle carrying three women and 13 children was swept away; three children survived.
Hildale Mayor Philip Barlow said the three women who died were sisters: Josephine Jessop, Naomi Jessop and Della Black.
Seven hikers who were canyoneering in Zion National Park and one man who was found in the Ft. Pearce Wash area of Warner Valley were also killed.
