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Utah flash flooding kills 16 | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Flash floods have killed at least 16 people in the US state of Utah, with one person still missing. | |
Twelve of 16 people in two vehicles swept away on Monday by a wall of water in Hildale were killed. Three children survived. One person is missing. | |
Hildale once served as a home base for polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs. | |
Four hikers from a group of seven were also killed in Zion National Park, swept away by floods that coursed through a narrow canyon. | |
The National Weather Service had issued a flash flood warning earlier. The floods followed heavy rains in the canyons just north of Hildale. | |
But there were concerns the warnings may not have reached sect members. | |
Members of Jeffs' sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), are discouraged from having contact with the outside world. | |
The FLDS broke off from the official Mormon church when the main church denounced polygamy in the late 19th Century . | The FLDS broke off from the official Mormon church when the main church denounced polygamy in the late 19th Century . |
In 2011, Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting underage girls whom he considered brides. | In 2011, Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting underage girls whom he considered brides. |
He is believed to have up to 70 wives, according to ABC News, which interviewed former members of FLDS in May. | He is believed to have up to 70 wives, according to ABC News, which interviewed former members of FLDS in May. |
However, the community is split between loyalists who still believe Jeffs is a victim of religious persecution and defectors who are embracing government efforts to pull the town into modern society. | However, the community is split between loyalists who still believe Jeffs is a victim of religious persecution and defectors who are embracing government efforts to pull the town into modern society. |