Flash Flood — Garfield, Utah

2008-09-10 · near Escalante Muni Arpt, Garfield, Utah

Event narrative

Flash flooding occurred in a small, but popular, slot canyon called Egypt 3, located near the Escalante River in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. This flooding resulted in two fatalities and two more injuries.

The drainage of Egypt 3 is very small, measuring approximately 1.2 square miles. The area is void of vegetation and soil, and the underlying parent matter is Navajo Sandstone, which is virtually impermeable. Radar rainfall estimates indicated that approximately 0.2 to 0.4 inches of rain fell on the drainage. Based on calculations after the event, the peak discharge was estimated to be approximately 450 cfs, and the time from the beginning of the rainfall to peak discharge was estimated to be 24 minutes. With the dimensions of the channel, it is probable that the depth of the flood exceeded 20 feet.

Wider weather episode

Flash flooding occurred in a very narrow slot canyon in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.5890, -111.2354)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 135416. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.