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Tom Price remembers one of the last times he saw Hector Miguel Garnica.
Garnica was looking forward to his weekend trip.
“I just saw him Wednesday at Circle K, and he had the two girls in the back seat and he was telling me about how he was going up to Payson this weekend and how he was so excited and asking me if I wanted to come with,” Price said.
Price had known Garnica for more than a decade — he had dated Garnica’s cousin for years and said Garnica was like a little brother to him.
Price, general manager at the Horny Toad Restaurant in Cave Creek, said he gave Hector Garnica a job as a busser and later as a cook at the Horny Toad. Several of his family members — including his father, mother and sisters — work at the restaurant now.
Hector Garnica had moved on to work at another Cave Creek establishment, Harold’s Corral.
Price found out in the early morning hours Sunday that an unspeakable tragedy had befallen his friend.
Nine people — Garnica’s wife and three children, and five other members of his wife’s family — had died on that weekend excursion. They were killed in a flash flood at a swimming hole at Cold Springs near Payson.
Garnica, 27, was still missing as of late Monday.
“I was devastated. I don’t think I can cry anymore,” Price said.
Price met with reporters Monday at the restaurant, which features creaky wooden floorboards and a dimly lit, Western-style saloon motif.
Authorities say they have found nine bodies and are only looking for one more person among a group who got swept up in a furious flash flood in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. (July 17)
AP
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Sgt. David Hornung of the Gila County Sheriff’s Office gives an update on the search for a missing person on July 17, 2017, following a recent flash flood in Payson. David Kadlubowski/azcentral.com
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Tom Price, a friend of the family tha was washed away by a flash flood north of Payson on Saturday, July 15, 2017, has set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses. Nine members are confirmed dead. One is missing. Tom Tingle/azcentral.com
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Sgt. David Hornung of the Gila County Sheriff’s Office gives an update on the search for a missing person following a recent flash flood. David Kadlubowski/azcentral.com
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Family members Carla and Iris Garnica discuss missing flash-flood victim Hector Miguel Garnica. Thomas Hawthorne/azcentral.com
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Carla Garnica, 22, describes the search for her family members, at least 9 of whom were killed in the flash flood.
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Search and rescue teams who were already in the area helped save people caught in Saturday’s flash floods in Arizona. Nearby residents say some who visit the area may not be aware that the weather can quickly turn into dangerous conditions. (July 17)
AP
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A rural fire chief says at least four people were found dead and about a dozen more are missing after flash flooding poured over a popular swimming area inside the Tonto National Forest in central Arizona. (July 16)
AP
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22-year-old Carla Garnica’s brother Miguel, 27, is still missing. Nine of their family members were killed in the flood. Video courtesy of Telemundo Arizona
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Officials search for drowning victims following a flash flood at a popular swimming hole north of Payson that at least killed nine people from a Phoenix family.
David Kadlubowski/The Republic
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Several children died in the flash flood.
Yihyun Jeong/The Republic
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This video of a flash flood in the Water Wheel area outside of Payson was posted June 15 by YouTube user David Cole.
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9 Dead, 1 Still Missing in Arizona Flash Flood
Search continues for flash-flood victim
Friend sets up GoFundMe page for flash-flood victims
Search continues for missing man after flash flood near Payson
Family of Payson flood victims talk
Family members of Payson flash flood victims describe incident
Crews describe rescue from Arizona flash floods
Raw: Deadly flash floods hit Ariz. swimming hole
Sister of man missing in Arizona flash flood talks on the search
Deadly flash flood kills at least 9 near Payson
Sgt. David Hornung talks about responding to the Payson tragedy
Flash flooding at Water Wheel
The wooden walls surrounding its tables and booths include a line of stained-glass windows that give a distorted view of the patio outside.
Nothing looked or felt right anymore.
Price said Hector Garnica’s sister had contacted around 3 a.m. Sunday with the news. She sent a text that said simply, “My brother is dead.”
“And then she called me and tried to explain to me. I couldn’t understand what she was saying. She was so broken … it’s just devastating,” Price said.
Price said Garnica had worked for him for eight years and was the hardest-working person he knew.
Price said he started a GoFundMe page because he wanted to help the family pay for funeral expenses. Even if he could not physically go up to Payson and aid the search there, it meant everything to him to help the family out, he said.
As of 2 p.m. Monday, the campaign had raised almost $25,000 of its $50,000 goal.
“They’re gonna have five bodies to bury. I’ve cared about this family forever, and, like I said, they’re all my employees so obviously I’m going to do everything I can to try to help them,” Price said.
He said he was overwhelmed by the community’s response.
“I’m blown away by the amount of people that have a heart and would donate even $5, $10. It’s adding up very quickly and the family cannot thank you enough for it,” he said.
Though Hector Garnica’s mother asked Price to take down the GoFundMe page because she did not want people feeling sorry for the family, he said that, realistically, it would be difficult to pay for the expenses for both sides of the family.
Price said he would be meeting with people from several of the other restaurants in the area where Hector Garnica had worked to try to arrange another fundraiser or other ways to cope with the tragedy.
“We hope that we find Hector’s body so he can be buried with his kids and his wife,” Price said with tears in his eyes.
“Hopefully they can somehow move on past this. I mean, I don’t know how, it’ll take some serious time; I don’t even know how long its going to take me to get over it, let alone them,” Price said.
Family members were killed after a “six-foot tall, 40-foot-wide black wave” of water hit the swimming hole Saturday afternoon.
Relatives told The Arizona Republic that family members went to Payson for a weekend getaway birthday celebration for Garnica’s wife, Maria Raya-Garcia.
The Gila County Sheriff’s Office on Monday released the names of the family members killed.
- Maria Raya-Garcia, 27, and her children:
- Emily Garnica, 3
- Mia Garnica, 5
- Danial Garnica, 7
- Maribel Raya-Garcia, 24, Maria Raya’s sister, along with her daughter:
- Erica Raya-Garcia, 2
- Javier Raya-Garcia, 19, brother of Maria and Maribel
- Selia Garcia Castenada, 57, the mother of Maria, Maribel and Javier
- Jonathan Leon, 13, Selia Garcia’s grandson
Another two adults and two children were rescued by helicopter Saturday. They were identified Monday as Julio Garcia, 29, Esthela Atonado, 28, Acis Garcia, 8, and Marina Garcia, 1.
A thunderstorm Saturday brought rain to a nearby remote area that had been burned over by the Highline Fire. There was no rain in the area where the swimmers were, but water raced down Ellison Creek, which rapidly flooded the canyon swimming area.
“They had no warning. They heard a roar and it was on top of them,” Water Wheel Fire and Medical District Fire Chief Ron Sattelmaier said.
Includes information from Arizona Republic reporter BrieAnna J. Frank.
READ MORE:
‘They had no warning’: 9 from Phoenix family dead in Payson flash flood, 1 still missing
Rescue teams continue their search for missing flash-flood victim
The deadly history of flash floods in Arizona
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