Rescuers searched for survivors yesterday at campsites in a remote forest in the southern US state of Arkansas, one day after a flash flood tore through the area, killing at least 16 people.
Survivors described a torrent of water rampaging through the Ouachita National Forest, catching campers and families vacationing in hillside cabins completely unaware in the dead of night.
Chad Stover from the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management said on Friday that 16 people had died, and that “there are probably about 30 people still missing.”
The exact number of people missing was impossible to determine because the Albert Pike campground, which bore the brunt of the massive surge of water, had no registration system to show how many campers were there.
At other campsites the floodwaters swept the records away.
Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln said she would tour the flood-stricken area yesterday with US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak.
Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe said rainwater funneled down hillsides into the valleys where people were camping at the beginning of the busy summer vacation season, raising the river level before dawn from 1m to 7m in about three hours.
US President Barack Obama ordered federal emergency officials to be on call to help state authorities if needed, and along with the first lady, extended “heartfelt condolences” to relatives and friends of the victims.
Chad Banks, who was camping with four friends when the water started pouring into their tent around 11pm on Thursday, said the power and the speed of the flood was unbelievable.
“All five of us got into the truck. In 15 or 20 minutes the water was up above my truck. It started carrying me downstream,” he said.
The campers abandoned the truck “and tied ourselves to trees and waited for the water to go down. It was still waist deep in daylight, but then we could at least see to find our way out,” he said. “We barely made it out.”
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