6 Southern Californians are killed in Utah’s Zion National Park flooding

A crew member searches along the Virgin River. The flash flood carried the bodies of the seven hikers miles apart.

Search and rescue team members carry a body after it was found along Pine Creek in Zion National Park on Sept. 16. Seven hikers, including six from Southern California, were killed during a flash flood the day before. Twelve others were killed about 20 miles south.

A member of a search and rescue team wades into the Virgin River during a search Sept. 16 for the bodies of seven hikers who entered a narrow desert canyon for a day of canyoneering and became trapped by a flash flood.

Crew members place a litter in a net to be transported by helicopter from Pine Creek in Zion National Park.

Water flows down Pine Creek in Zion National Park. Though the National Park Service had closed all canyons ahead of the flash flood, it’s unclear whether the hiking group were aware of them.

About 20 miles south of where the hikers were killed, three adults and nine children were killed when their vehicles were swept away in a flood in Hildale, Utah.

A search crew looks for 6-year-old Tyson Lucas Black in Zion National Park on Sept. 16.

Community members visit the spot of the wrecked vehicles after a flash flood in Zion National Park.

Search and rescue crews looked for the seven hikers along the Virgin River in Zion National Park.

A cadaver dog swims through mud and debris during a search after the flash flood in Hildale, Utah.

Visitors stand at the entrance of Zion National Park on Sept. 16. Ahead of the flash flood, the park closed all canyons and broadcast warnings over media and at the park’s stations. But they don’t have the staff to patrol and ensure that hikers have not entered the canyons, officials said.