LANGLEY — Search and rescue teams found the body of a 19th flood victim Sunday and will continue to search today to find what officials believe is the last missing person from Friday’s flash floods at a campsite in the Ouachita National Forest.
Capt. Mike Fletcher of the Arkansas State Police said officials are not giving up hope of finding more survivors but noted that officials know for sure of only one person still missing.
“There could possibly be others; we just don’t know,” Fletcher said. “We’re going to continue to search until we’re satisfied. This area is so rugged. There’s so much debris. There’s places you can’t get any equipment to.”
Search and rescue teams on horses and with specially trained dogs have combed 50 miles of drainage and flooded waterway at least twice and will begin to cut through large piles of debris with heavy equipment soon, said Mike Quisenberry, commander of the Southern Incident Management Team with the U.S. Forest Service.
Fletcher said the 19th flood victim was found about noon about a half mile downstream from the Albert Pike Recreation Area along the Little Missouri River.
The victim was identified as Wilene Shumake, relative David Shumake confirmed. Her husband, Robert “Lynn” Shumake and the couple’s 8-year-old grandson, Nicholas “Nic” Shumake, also perished.
“They enjoyed camping,” David said, adding that the couple visited the Albert Pike site often.
On Saturday, officials said there could be as many as two dozen people still missing, but Fletcher said Sunday that the numbers may have been exaggerated because some people called in family members who they later realized were not missing.
Heavy rains Thursday night and early Friday in Pike and Montgomery counties caused flash flooding along the Caddo River and Little Missouri River, which flows through Albert Pike and the mountainous Ouachita National Forest.
The Little Missouri River went from 3 feet to 23 feet within 5 1 /2 hours, causing a surge of water so powerful it ripped slabs of asphalt from a parking lot and sent debris - and people - downstream.
Dozens of people at Albert Pike survived the flood surge, some hanging onto trees for hours to prevent the water from sweeping them away.
There is no way to know exactly how many people were camping at Albert Pike when the flood hit - the campground log was washed away, too - but officials have estimated between 100 and 300 people.
“This is the most tragic event we’ve had on the Ouachita National Forest, and hearts go out to the family members,” said Tracy Farley, a spokesman for the Ouachita National Forest.
Farley said the forest service would take steps to prevent this from happening in the future, but “right now the focus is on search and rescue and recovery.”
“In the future, when we have time, after this event is completed, we’ll look into those type issues,” Farley said.
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On Sunday, trucks for the first time towed mangled cars and campers - spray painted orange to signify whether people were found inside- out of Albert Pike and east on Arkansas 84.
Quisenberry said some rock and debris piles are as long as 150 feet and can only be cut through with heavy equipment.
The teams will begin to search those heavy debris piles as soon as today.
He said more than 100 people are involved in the search and rescue, and six specially trained dog teams were used Sunday to help identify areas where there might be human remains.
Many families affected by the tragedy were staying about 15 miles southeast of Albert Pike in Lodi at the Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, a small church at the bottom of a hill surrounded by lush green mountains.
The families of the then two missing flood victims went to Albert Pike on Sunday morning along with church pastor Graig Cowart to “help on their closure as they move forward.”
“It will help them more in the future as they move on,” Cowart said. “They’re struggling to even try to grasp what’s happening ... and so we went there to help them with the grieving and help them deal with the emotional and mental shock they’re experiencing.”
Cowart said he and about 20 to 25 family members went to Albert Pike for about two hours Sunday morning, although he didn’t want to provide too many details to protect the families’ privacy.
He did say that they combed dismantled trailers and vehicles, finding such things as baby blankets and family photos.
“The level of destruction is unbelievable,” Cowart said. “It looked like a tornado that just hung around for awhile.”
Cowart noted that on Friday as many as 100 families took refuge at the church, which also had as many as 75 American Red Cross, forestry, law enforcement and personal vehicles parked around it Sunday.
Sunday morning services were canceled so that there could be a focus on the families of victims.
“What we’ve conveyed to the families is that we’re committed to them for the duration of the search and rescue,” said Cowart, 43. “If, in the days ahead, this becomes a search and recovery, we want them to know we’re here for them.”
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Andrea Cowart, the pastor’s wife, said family members of missing persons have tried to cope with the waiting by sitting outside and talking and playing board and video games.
Judith Samford, an American Red Cross disaster mental-health counselor, came to the church from southern Illinois on Saturday, along with two other Red Cross counselors from other areas.
She said she has counseled families of victims, as well as first responders and members of search and rescue teams.
She said that a flash-flood tragedy - which is almost certainly unpreventable - hits families with a heavy dose of shock.
In a hurricane or forest fire, people know it’s coming and may feel guilty for not getting their families out of the area; a flash flood causes a different type of grief.
“It’s something really unexpected on the families,” Samford said. “I don’t think this could have been expected or prevented. In a way, it makes it harder for families to cope, but the guilt of not doing something you’re supposed to do wouldn’t be there.” Information for this article was contributed by Amy Upshaw of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 06/14/2010