The search continues near the Battle Creek in Butte County for 24 year old Kristen Lakin. Lakin was one of two women reported missing on Tuesday after the SUV they were traveling in was swept away in fast-moving water from a flash flood. The other woman Laken was traveling with, 57-year old Roxanne Bleinbaum, made it out safely and is being treated at the Belle Fourche hospital.
Butte County sheriff Fred Lamphere says Tuesday night nearly seven inches of rain fell in the area in a short amount of time and swelled up creek beds. He says the women’s SUV was likely initially sitting in more than twelve feet of water – the vehicle wasn’t spotted by rescuers until early the next morning when water levels had receded.
Lamphere says rescue crews were searching areas up to three miles from where the women’s SUV was swept away into the ditch.
“We concentrated more on that last night as things kind of ramped up and it got dark. We started over again this morning in the same area. We had about thirty-five people with ATV’s and UTV’s and on foot. We had two airplanes searching this morning early. We had good skies this morning so it was good visibility. We’ve not come up with anything at this point. Everybody was back in around noon and we’ve kind of discussed some of our other options and expanded some of the search area as far as fifteen miles east along the Morrow river and some of the areas that the high water would have flowed to,” says Lamphere.
Lamphere says water in some flooded areas of Butte County is receding and opening up new search areas. He says weather conditions are favorable for the search area and crews are staying optimistic. Lamphere reminds the public not to drive into areas that are flooded as conditions can become dangerous quickly.