16 People killed in Flash Flood in Arkansas as Hikers & Campers Swept Away, Dozens Missing

Tragedy strikes Arkansas when flash floods hit the Caddo and Little Missouri rivers that rose by 20 feet overnight. The result was the hikers and campers who were spending the night in tents along the rivers in the isolated Ouachita Mountains were unsuspectingly swept away.

It was reported that 16 people had died in flash floods and dozens are missing in Arkansas after flood waters swept through a camp ground. Sadly, many of the the  dead reported are children and there are still as many as 20 people still missing after the flash flood.

About 60 campers were rescued by emergency workers, another two dozen hospitalized, the Associated Press reported, citing authorities. Dozens more are still missing and feared dead.

“About one-thirty, two in the morning, we started hearing children and women screaming and crying,” said Crystel Hofer, who was asleep in her cabin when the water came raging through. “So we went to the door and opened the door and they were trying to come up the hill to where our cabin was to escape the rising water.”

UPDATE I: 17 now dead in Flash Flood and many still missing as search and rescue/recovery begins.

Rescue crews took to kayaks, horseback and ATVs on Saturday to resume the desperate search for about two dozen campers still missing after flash floods swept through a popular campground, killing at least 17 people.