Funeral set for 9 family members killed in flash flood


              Members of the Tonto Rim Search and Rescue Team comb the muddy East Verde River near the entrance to the First Crossing recreation area during the search and rescue operation for a victim in a flash flood Monday, July 17, 2017, in Payson, Ariz. The bodies of several children and adults have been found after Saturday's flash flooding poured over a popular swimming area in the Tonto National Forest. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Members of the Tonto Rim Search and Rescue Team comb the muddy East Verde River near the entrance to the First Crossing recreation area during the search and rescue operation for a victim in a flash flood Monday, July 17, 2017, in Payson, Ariz. The bodies of several children and adults have been found after Saturday's flash flooding poured over a popular swimming area in the Tonto National Forest. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

PHOENIX (AP) - Relatives of nine family members who were killed in a flash flood in Arizona last weekend have scheduled funeral services for early next week for all of those who died. Dozens of searchers, meanwhile, resumed combing a riverbed on Wednesday for the body of the 10th victim, a 27-year-old man who remains missing.

Jakki Moss, a manager with the local family-owned Messinger Mortuary, said visitation for the victims will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Scottsdale, Arizona. The funeral Mass for the group is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Patrick church, she said.

The victims were swept away Saturday in a thunderstorm-produced flash flood that swept over a popular swimming hole along the river in the Tonto National Forest in central Arizona.

Still missing on Wednesday was Hector Miguel Garnica, whose wife, Maria Raya-Garcia, their three small children, his mother-in-law, sister-in-law and other relatives were killed in the flood.

Weather creating possible flood conditions hampered the search over the previous two days.

Incident management team leader Pruett Small said the 75 to 80 searchers would be pulled from their work along the East Verde River again if conditions Wednesday pose a danger.

Searches have included divers probing ponds of standing water along the river and forestry crews using saws to cut up tree limbs to allow other searchers to dig and check under rocks and deep piles of debris.

As the search for Garnica has continued, questions have arisen about whether the government should or could have done more to warn the public about the dangers of floodwaters in wilderness areas.

Officials have said members of the extended family who died in the flood had no warning about the approaching surge of water.

There is no system currently in place to specifically warn people about the potential dangers of flash floods at the Tonto National Forest.

Just four of the 14 members of the extended family gathered at the swimming hole were rescued after the flood.

One was Acis Raiden Garcia, Garnica's 8-year-old nephew from Flagstaff, who told news media this week that he's trying to find the stranger who swept him to safety. The mystery man has been described as a middle-aged Caucasian man with a white beard and salt-and-pepper hair.

The boy and his father, 29-year-old Julio Garcia, his father's wife, 28-year-old Esthela Atondo, and their 1-year-old daughter, Marina Garcia, were the only ones to survive.

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