At least 6 dead, 7 missing after flash flooding in southern Utah

At least six people died Monday after a flash flood swept two cars off a road in Hildale, Utah.

Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Barlow told The Salt Lake Tribune that the occupants of the vehicles had been out looking at floods caused by heavy rains when a "very significant surprise flash flood... caught them unawares." There were 16 people in the cars, and Barlow said three were able to get out of the water. Seven people remain missing, including several small children and their mothers.

There is a wash that runs through Hildale and the adjacent town of Colorado City, Arizona, with signs that warn motorists to watch out for flash floods, the Tribune reports. Both Hildale and Colorado City are home to the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), which practices polygamy.

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