Five people rescued in Arizona after flash flooding

KINGMAN, Ariz. (CBS, KYMA) - Five people were rescued by the Mohave County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) Search and Rescue after flash floods swept away their Jeep Grand Cherokee south of Lake Havasu City.

About 7:45 a.m. Sunday, MCSO said they received a call for help from a family member of five people who had become stranded around 3 a.m. Sunday morning south of Lake Havasu City.

The group had gone out the previous evening exploring near Mohave Wash and developed radiator problems with their Jeep Grand Cherokee, stranding them in a wash. They ended up spending the night out there.

At the time they became stranded, the wash was not running. However, with the increase in rains from Hurricane Rachel, the wash began to run intensely causing the Jeep Grand Cherokee to be swept away. They called family for help Sunday morning, who then contacted Search and Rescue.

Search and Rescue responded and began a route and location search starting from Standard Wash and working toward Mohave Wash, all while it continued to rain and washes were running.

Challenges arose finding suitable places to cross some of the running washes, which increased the difficulty of reaching their location. While the Central Air Rescue DPS helicopter from Phoenix was enroute, ground teams located the vehicle and continued searching for the group, as they had walked away from the vehicle to find shelter.

Once on scene, the DPS helicopter located them on top of a hill and landed. All five had cell phones that had no battery left to communicate their current location. They were loaded up and brought back to the Command Post. They were in good spirits and happy to be reunited with family.