Search for flood’s victims ends

20th body is Louisiana girl, police confirm

John Nichols of the U.S. Forest Service points to areas around the Albert Pike Campground Tuesday afternoon while talking to media in Langley.
John Nichols of the U.S. Forest Service points to areas around the Albert Pike Campground Tuesday afternoon while talking to media in Langley.

— The organized search for victims of a Friday flash flood in the Albert Pike Recreation Area ended Tuesday as U.S. Forest Service engineers and safety officers began inspecting the campground for hazardous areas.

“We don’t have anybody we’re searching for because we don’t know of anyone missing,” said Capt. Mike Fletcher of the Arkansas State Police. “To my knowledge there’s no search teams out there now. There was a big crowd here Monday. This place looks like a ghost town now.”

Authorities found the 20th flood victim Monday, the last known missing person from Friday morning’s flash floods in the Ouachita National Forest.

The state Crime Laboratory on Tuesday confirmed the identity of the 19th flood victim, Wilene Shumake, 67, of DeKalb, Texas, through DNA testing, according to a news release from the Arkansas State Police.

State police identified the 20th victim Tuesday evening as Jadyn Basinger, 9, of Shreveport.

Workers at the Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church said Jadyn was the daughter of Shane Basinger, 34, of Gloster, La., and the sister of Kinsley Basinger, 6, both of whom died in the flooding.

The families of 18 of the victims were staying at the church and identified victims by looking at photographs, pastor Graig Cowart said.

Fletcher said authorities working at a mobile command center in Langley would remain there Tuesday night and reassess this morning their timetable for leaving the area.

Meanwhile, engineers inside the park Tuesday inspected the roads, culverts, trails and bridges to decipher what type of work needs to be done to return the park and camping areas to use, said Art Morrison, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.

Morrison said safety officers are also flagging hazardous areas within the campground for propane tanks, batteries and trees leaning against other trees, among other things.

“We’ll get crews in there to take care of that, but we had to get crews in there to do the assessment,” Morrison said.

The destruction and fatalities occurred early Friday after heavy rains fell in the mountainous terrain of the forest between midnight and 6 a.m. As 100 to 300 campers slept, the Little Missouri River began to overflow into a campsite at the recreation area.

By 2:30 a.m., the river was rising about 8 feet every minute and the fierce current began to sweep cabins, vehicles, debris and people downstream.

Fletcher said that while the floods killed 20 people, others survived the raging floodwaters by holding onto trees for hours, climbing onto the deck of a cabin and using an air mattress to float to high ground.

“There’s a lot of people who got out of there. People were helping each other,” Fletcher said.

“As heartbreaking as this is, there were a lot of survivors, too.”

He added that the search effort, including help from volunteer firefighters and others from all over the state, went better than expected.

“Considering the area they had to search and the way the debris was and everything, it’s just amazing that we found them all as quick as we did,” Fletcher said. “That terrain is so rugged in there - the rocks, the water, the brush piles you have to go through, the debris - they really all deserve a big ‘thank you’ from everyone involved. They all worked hard. Nobody ever complained. I’m very proud of all the people involved in it because everybody pitched in.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, a Democrat from Arkansas who represents the district where the floods occurred, called upon fellow members of Congress to bow their heads in silence in remembrance of the victims Monday, before the chamber proceedings began for the week.

Joining Ross in calling for the minute of silence were Republican Reps. John Fleming of Louisiana and Ralph Hall of Texas. Constituents from their districts also died in the flooding.

Ross commended the work of first responders and volunteers who rescued dozens of people from the debris and rushing waters.

“My deepest thoughts and prayers and those of all Arkansans and Americans are with the families who lost loved ones in these destructive flash floods,” Ross said.

Information for this article was contributed by Alex Daniels of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 06/16/2010

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