KSL.com shares the harrowing experience one family encountered two weeks ago when a flash flood swept through Lake Powell. The Slavenskys and their friends had set up camp at a beach in Crystal Springs Canyon after having checked the forecast for the weekend and seeing nothing more than a chance of scattered rain showers. While the friends and family started lunch around 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, an unexpected downpour started up. According to Dennis Slavensky, the slot canyon nearby started to rumble with water.
“The loss of our own lives and the (loss of the) sandy beach beneath us was becoming a serious threat. … We were trapped behind a pool of rocks, logs and debris 2-feet thick, with that raging slot canyon to the left of us not stopping anytime soon,” he said.
The flooding tore their anchored boats away from the beach and pulled them under a waterfall that grew from the onslaught of water. The Slavensky’s 23-foot Maxum was struck by boulders and sunk.
When the flooding finally abated, the group was able to get to the other two boats. Once they made it to the main canyon, they signaled a houseboat for help.
On another Lake Powell houseboat, KSL.com adds that Mario Quintero and his family were also caught in the rainstorm and managed to shoot footage of the experience with their GoPro camera and drone, even filming a 100-foot high waterfall that had formed. Quintero says the powerful storm “spun our houseboat in circles a few times before we were able to regain steering control.”
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area park ranger Cynthia Sequanna explains that while people might head towards canyons to seek shelter from bad weather when they’re out on open water, that is where the most dangerous flooding will happen.
To read the full KSL.com report of the Slavensky’s story, click here. To read the full KSL.com report of the Quintero's experience, click here.
Photos credited to Dennis Slavensky