Flash floods kill 16 in Arkansas Camps in U.S.

New York, 12 June (ANI): Flash floods raged through campgrounds in western Arkansas early Friday morning, killing 16 people and leaving over a dozen missing.

According to the state's Emergency Department, 16 bodies had been recovered and dozens more people were still missing after water surged to 20 feet following heavy rains between midnight and morning, causing the floods.

As many as 300 people, including families with vehicles and off-road backpackers, are still said to be camping along the Caddo and Little Missouri rivers.

Terrified families had to face a torrid time after the churning, swiftly rising water destroyed everything they had.

Kayla Chriss,22, of Vivian, Los Angeles, and her family had been camping in the area since Monday. "Without warning, everything started washing away," The New York Times quoted her, as saying.

"I was just singing to my son, telling him everything is going to be O.K., if it wasn't for him being there, I wouldn't have made it. He kept me going," she added.

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning around 2 a.m. (U.S. time), but it proved to be too late as it was only after the rains had started.

National Guard helicopters and hundreds of state and local officials were working frantically to search for survivors in the rugged valleys, some of them accessing the raging rivers by canoe or kayak(ANI)