UPDATED 6:28 a.m.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Authorities say the bodies of two people have been recovered from a washed-out section of highway on a southern North Dakota reservation.
The drivers of two other vehicles were rescued from the floodwaters that collapsed the road on the Standing Rock Reservation in Sioux County.
Flash flooding washed out a 30- to 40-foot section of a road over Joe Brush Creek resulting in a 60- to 70-foot deep drop overnight Monday and early Tuesday. Tribal chairman Mike Faith says the body of Trudy Peterson was recovered late Tuesday. Faith says the body of Jim Vanderwal was recovered hours earlier.
Two others whose vehicles plunged into the hole were rescued from the creek below, including a bus driver and a pickup truck driver. They were taken to hospitals.
5:38 a.m.
SIOUX COUNTY, N.D. (KELO) — Two people from South Dakota are dead after flash flooding hit in North Dakota.
Heavy rains from Monday night and Tuesday morning washed away a culvert near Fort Yates, which is just a few miles north of the South Dakota border.
According to family members, Trudy Peterson was heading from her home in Mobridge to her job in Fort Yates. They say she probably never saw the road was washed away because it was dark and raining.
A U.S. Postal worker from Mobridge also died in the flooding.
That person’s name hasn’t been released.
9:09 p.m.
Authorities have located the vehicle of the missing woman and are currently working to pull it out of the water.
North Dakota law enforcement have recovered one person’s body and are still looking for a second person after a road washed out during flash flooding Tuesday morning.
KX News reports the BIA is the lead in the search and rescue efforts in Sioux County along Kenel Road near HWY 1806.
Two people were rescued from flash flooding on the same stretch of road earlier on Tuesday, according to Sioux County officials. KX News has been told both people who were rescued are being treated at local hospitals.
It is estimated 5 to 7 inches of rain fell in the area, causing the flash flooding.
Law enforcement has called in back-up for heavy equipment to help in the search and move vehicles that are trapped.
The North Dakota Highway Patrol sent up an aircraft to help in the search around 12:30 p.m.
The Burleigh County Swift Water Rescue Team has been called in along with Morton County’s dive team.
